Avatar 2: Phoenix
by AwesomeTech
Summary: After the defeat of Humanity on Pandora, the future is grim. Overcrowding and pollution begin to take its tole on a dying earth. A small group of the best and brightest humans are sent to recolonize Pandora, this time, for good. Warning: grimdark
1. Chapter 1 Fading Light

Chapter 1

Fading Light

President Harvey Lee Citad watched the daily reports scroll by on the bottom of his computer screen. The usual had happened while he had slept. Some hippies were protesting the new deforesting bill that would make room for more farming superstructures by cutting into the last national parks. The North Koreans were threatening to destroy everybody _again_ with their nukes. The President couldn't help but smile, as he knew as well as the rest of his cabinet did that they didn't even have refined Uranium anymore thanks to the Neo-Korean war ten years ago.

He was an older man, in his late forties, already twice as old as the international life expectancy. Despite this, he had managed to hide the most adverse effects of aging in the 22nd century. His hair was still mostly its natural black, with only a few straggling white hairs to indicate his age. His eyes burned with an undulled fire that most people couldn't stand to glare at. He sat strait upright, years of military training keeping his posture correct even after leaving. His face was wide and welcoming, his large chin and open features had helped him win the sympathy from the public, even as their lifespans dwindled and terrorism rose.

Something was crawling along the bottom that caught his eye, though. In flashing red letters was an urgent privet message from RDA, the industrial firm/interstellar space farers. President Citad sighed and opened up a channel to the CEO.

"Before you ask, no, you can't bring nukes on the next shuttle to your little garden box." He said.

The CEO, Charles Kensite, looked sleepless and disheveled. "I haven't called to ask about that. Christ, we've been trying to contact you for the past eight hours! Why didn't anybody wake you up?"

Harvey sniffed. "Probably because they know you're just calling to complain about the regulations pertaining to you're little ferry business."

"This isn't a time to joke. Look, our colony on Pandora, you know how they never use the Interstellar Comm. unless it's an emergency?"

"Because it costs about a hundred thousand dollars just to turn on?"

"Exactly. We just got a message from them. It had two parts. One, a message: 'Colony lost'." The message appeared in green text below the CEO, "Two, something that took up most of the data package, a list of names, with a title; Dead." A large text file scrolled past the screen, "They're all names of security personnel. According to it, more than seventy percent of the colony was killed."

"So, you've lost the colony because of some sort of massacre? What happened to them?"

"We've also got some bad news for you. Colonel Quaritch was one of the people listed as deceased. I know you and him served together in Nigeria. Quaritch was the best man we had on Pandora. He took on a viperwolf on his first day and survived to stay behind. We even offered to fix his scars, but he said he liked them."

"What if your people are lying?"

"The sheer cost of operating our IC means practical jokes out of the question. But we can't be sure until the normal radio broadcasts reach us."

"Good, when can you receive the first transmissions?"

"In… three years, at the best."

The President cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, what are you doing about the problem?"

"We've halted every ship heading to the planet, and we are ordering ships currently on route to turn around and head back. We may need your government's support on this. You know I wouldn't contact you if it weren't an emergency."

"In three years, I will not be President. There won't be another. You know that the UN representative is going to be the new executive. You can convince him to go to war with the blue monkeys."

Charles gulped. "This is going to be a bad quarter."

The old President chuckled, "Maybe, in three years. Until then, you've got nothing but time to prepare for whatever those broadcasts will tell you. Personally, I think that your security's overreacting. That's what you get for hiring nonunion." He cut the transmission. "Heh, those poor bastards think that their alien problem is a big deal." He sighed, returning to his work for a few minutes before getting up from his desk.

The guard at his desk looked at him as he exited the room. "Sir? He asked curiously.

"I'm going for a walk in thirty minutes, the usual route. Have my security sweep the area." The president needed to think.

The guard saluted. "Yes, sir!" Before radioing orders to the Secret Service.

Mr. Citad went to his dresser, and tried on multiple suits before settling on a fashionable rubber trench coat that all the punks in the Underground were wearing. His personal stylist agreed the choice was acceptable, to appeal to the "in crowd" were her instructions. It made Harvey feel like packaged meat.

As he stepped into the elevator, his guards were wearing their usual gas masks, but there was something different. They had one for him.

"Regulations, sir." One of them said as he handed him it.

"I'm going to breath the same air as the people on the streets are, thank you very much." Harvey said, pushing the mask aside.

The guard looked at the other guards for support. He sighed, before continuing, "Sir, do you remember Senator Farver?"

"Yes, he's bedridden due to complications with his surgery, why?"

"This is supposed to be kept on the down low, but the complications, they were lung cancer. We just found out today. The smog problem has finally started entering almost daily warnings. Going outside is no longer recommended for anything other than five minute trips."

Harvey reluctantly put the plastic piece over his head. It hissed as he opened the air flow, and felt a rush of rubber scented air blow over his face. He looked over at the guard. "How long will this be a problem?" he asked.

"I don't know." The man replied as he pushed the button that started the elevator's descent.

As he exited from the White House High Rise, Harvey looked around the peaceful garden entrance that surrounded the government building. He began to walk out, towards a glass airlock that stood between the world of the rich and the rest of Humanity. He checked his gas mask as he entered the large transparent box. The world outside was covered in a thick fog of chemicals. Suited businesspeople hurriedly walked past him, simple masks or handkerchiefs covering their faces.

He signaled the guard to open the front door when the room had finished exchanging the purified air for the tainted atmosphere outside. When Harvey turned the corner around his High Rise, Secret Service keeping close, he was swarmed by reporters from the various internet blogs and news crews that waited outside his mansion all day and night. He ignored their endless waterfall of questions, and silenced them with a simple wave of his hand. He pointed to a journalist at random.

The young woman nervously spat out through her own mask, "Mr. President, , we're wondering what your opinions are about the incorporation of the last of the national parks?"

"We need the extra space for farmlands, and most of the wildlife had already gone extinct there years before. It was the best we can do given the circumstances." The president answered before pointing to another journalist, this one with TV cameras.

The man read from a queue card, "Mr. President, Channel 4,532 news, how do you respond to the protests in downtown LA regarding the heavy smog there?"

"We are facing tough times, but I like to remember that, as a species, we are doing better than ever before. We travel the stars as an interstellar empire, and still, some people only look at the short term. With the last of the oil being used up, the citizens of this great nation, along with the collective nations of this planet will have to find alternative sources of power. Thankfully, we have made great strides in that direction. I promise the people of Los Angeles, you will not suffer forever. All I ask is a little time to fix the problem. One more question, um, you!" He always liked to point towards the back when finishing up press conferences.

"Regarding the planet of Pandora." The young man started, "Oh, sorry, forgot, , how many of the Na'vi could be smuggled over here before the planet denizens noticed their absence? We wish to document Human-Na'vi 'relations'."

The President looked at the reporter. "How old are you?" He asked.

"Eighteen, why?" He asked.

"Get a real job son." Harvey said, walking into the street to avoid the noisy crowd of reporters filling the cracked sidewalk. He quickly jumped back on after nearly avoiding a speeding car. His Secret Servicemen reminded him to look both ways before doing that again.

As he finished up his walk, Harvey looked at his security. "We're making a quick detour, gentlemen."

"Sir, we haven't searched the area ahead!" His guard warned.

"Then you'd best be on your toes."

As they walked out, away from the government center, Republic City's true appearance began to take shape. Old stone walls were plated with rusty steel, the sidewalk was worn down until it was level with the street. Harvey saw a maskless, homeless man cough up blood and hold up a Styrofoam cup before him.

"Spurr change?" The bearded man barely wheezed.

Harvey gave him a twenty and continued walking. Across the street, teenagers dressed similar to him from the Underground ventured to the surface through an old subway tunnel. One of them was carrying a cheap rail gun. His security nervously got closer to the President as he made another seemingly random turn.

After a few blocks, the President arrived at his destination. An old brick building stood out against the neon and steel buildings around it. Harvey opened the rotting wooden door, much to the confusion of his security force.

"Sir, if you wanted to go here, why didn't you just send for the motorcade?"

"I'd rather not attract attention to this visit. Stay outside, please."

Thinking it was something different entirely, the security chief ordered his men to circle around the block, to ensure there were no, "witnesses." It suited Harvey just fine, he'd rather people thought he was having an affair than being an actual human being.

He knocked once before hearing a happy female voice invite him in. Inside, a tired looking woman was busy mixing something in the cramped kitchen. The President noted the cleanliness of the place, he almost felt bad bringing his muddy walking shoes into the simple apartment.

He knocked on the door. When the woman looked over, Harvey said, "Darthey. It's good to see you again. Where's Mikey?" He hugged the woman.

"At school, it's good to see you again, Harvey. Been a long time since we last saw you."

"How's your husband?"

"RDA is still sending his checks, and it makes for pretty comfortable living."

"You could get a bigger place. I hear that being on Pandora for any length of time is incredibly lucrative."

"I've thought about it, but I like the neighborhood. It's a good place to grow up in." She said sarcastically, looking out the window. A Magnalift train silently sped by below. It kicked up a swath of dust that had settled on the tracks. Thousands of people walked below, and Harvey could almost make out his security detail. "If I think about it, we're better off than most. Look," She pointed to a small device by the door, "I just bought this mini-purifier. We can breath easy with it. It's so much better to work without a mask on."

"I'm sure." The President said, he had spent so much time in his White House sweet that he had forgotten about the air pollution. He turned around, towards her, "Listen, you know that me and your husband go way back. Call this returning him a favor. I just received word from RDA. They've lost the colony" He waited for his words to sink in, before continuing, "And I need you to see this." He handed her his data pad, with the list he had seen earlier on it.

"What does this mean?" Ms. Quaritch asked.

"I'm sorry to say this, but your husband was probably killed in action. I wanted you to hear it from me, not some idiot in a monkey-suit." Harvey sat down on the new couch that sat parallel to the large flat-screen TV set that took up a whole side of the room.

When he looked up, he saw that Darthey was holding back tears. Harvey got up and held her. "I know how you feel, but you have to hold it in. I've just lost one of the only friends I ever had, but I can't let the world know about that. The media won't ever let me shake off this weakness. And you can't tell anybody, or else the whole secret's out."

"Why did you tell me? I'd have been happier. Think of Mike! What will he do?"

"I know knowing hurts, but listen, we can't let our ignorance protect us. Each little truth we learn shatters the bubble we make around the world, and it makes us sad. But you know, and now that you do, you also have time to adjust to the facts. Until the death notice comes, you have time. Time to make amends, time to prepare, and time," He looked out at the window, "To forget."

"I'll never forget Miles!" Darthey cried.

"But you'll remember him better, and you'll only remember the good times. They say time makes fools of us all. Now that you know the future, you are prepared. And I'm sorry."

Suddenly, the door burst open, then quickly shut behind it. A small child ran into the kitchen screaming, "Mom I'm home!" Through his tiny gas mask. He looked at the President. "Hey, who are you?"

"An old friend." He said, quickly hugging Dorothy and hurrying out the door. "I know you're sad," He said as he put on his gas mask, "But it's still your choice. Do what you will with that knowledge."

"Mom, what was that all about?" Mike asked, "Hey, are you crying?"

Dorothy swallowed her tears. "Mommy's just got something stuck in her eye. Come on, let's go watch TV."

"All right!" Miles said, happily putting on his 3d glasses as he sat down on the couch.

"Are you sure?" Jake asked Neytiri, "It's that soon?"

"We are favored by Eywa. It's only natural that she would want us to have a child. I can feel him inside me, it won't be long now…" Jake kissed her slowly, the Pandoran trees their only witnesses.


	2. Chapter 2 Twilight

Chapter 2

Twilight

_Three years later_

Mike sat down in his dingy apartment while a news broadcast was playing. He listened to it out of shock more than anything else. He tried to go over the events that had just unfolded.

A man had came. He wore one of those old suits people still sometimes wore, but it had seen better days. He had come to say two things, that his father was dead, and, worse, that his wasn't going to be receiving any more checks from the company.

Mike was devastated over the loss of his father. Although he had faint memories of when he was just a baby about the man, he had grown up almost entirely with his mother. He still missed her, after the beginning of the Eco Attacks, when she died to shield him from a mustard gas bomb.

It had been three years since that day. Mike had gotten taller and more muscular, until he could almost see himself as one of the thugs of the Underground gangs that inhabited the subways. Judging from the pictures of his father, Mike had the same hard face, dull features, and pit-bull eyes. Now he had just learned that he had lost his other parent.

He still remembered the suited man's comment: "A fifteen year old kid like you? With his own apartment? You've got everything, kid! Hell, you can still afford electricity! I'd be envious of you, if I didn't get to live in the old RDA hanger myself." He had looked all proud to be part of that dying company.

He tried to get his mind off the shock of having no income by focusing on the news. They had also learned about that shitty colony's destruction, and a panel was discussing the future of space travel.

"I think we went too far!" One annalist said, "We destroyed their home, and for what? A rare magnet! Those things may look different, but they're still sentient. I say that what they did was justified!"

"You're looking at it all wrong." Another across the room pointed out, "Unobtainium is the only reason we haven't already fallen into anarchy yet. The UN can barely feed it's own staff members. Ever since that gene-bomb destroyed the crop towers in the Midwest, we have all been feeling the strain. We needed to get at it. If we displaced a few savages, so what? We need that stuff more than they need their land."

"I'm sorry for the interruption, gentlemen, but I have just received word that the US Representative is holding a press conference on the future of colonization on Pandora, and the fateful battle that has gained notoriety as Quartich's Last Stand." A news reporter interrupted.

Mike leaned over intently. Whenever the old representative tried to incite change before, it had always been met with skepticism. He wondered what the old man's plan was now.

An aged Harvey Citad approached the podium in front of the White House high-rise. He tested the microphone in front of him, something Mike had never seen a politician do before. He looked nervous.

"Uh, hi. How's everyone doing? Please excuse me if I stutter, I don't have a planned speech, so I guess I'll just have to wing it. Citizens, friends, a tragedy has befallen our fellow man across the gulf of space. The colony Hell's Gate on the planet Pandora has fallen. The reason? The indigenous xenos overran the facility, causing untold damage and loss of life. A national hero, and my close personal friend, Colonel Miles Quaritch, was killed while defending, to give a small group of his comrades the time to escape the death world.

"Now, I know what most of you are thinking. 'Why should we care about some long lost planet? We have enough problems here already.' To that I answer, that planet is our future, as a species. I have already discussed strategies with the rest of the UN council, and they agree with my point of view on the matter. At this very moment, the financial and physical assets of the industrial giant RDA are being seized. I have also instituted an aggressive recruitment program, to raise a specialized force to take back the planet. Anybody is welcome to apply, and they will have a new home on the jungle world. We are also recruiting colonists to make the world habitable for humanity's survival. Already, more interstellar ships are being built, along with the most powerful and advanced machines mankind has produced so far, and we intend to take back the planet, at all costs."

He paused to listen to the crowd cheer and boo at the same time. Mike listened intently, before picking up his school bag, running over to a filing cabinet, and grabbing the papers he would need. All the while, the TV broadcast continued.

"To stop corruption and people buying seats in stead of earning them, either myself or a member of the UN council are required to approve of an application before it is passed for a seat. If somebody gets in, it is because they are the best of the best, nothing less."

He exited his apartment, locking the door behind him. He ran down the stairs, through the moldy and gunky corridors to the main street, where the people who had already been rejected were starting to incite riots and throw flaming bottles.

Mike stood in the line that had formed for one of the numerous recruitment stations and watched the riot police battle the enraged protesters. Above him, the dark brown sky flashed with thunder and lightning. Mike could only guess to the chemicals causing this particular kind of weather.

_One day earlier_

Harvey huffed and puffed as he struggled to climb the stairs of the UN headquarters. One of his masks must have been faulty, because the condition of his lungs was deteriorating rapidly. He stopped for breath at the top of the stairs. He could see other youthful leaders charging up the steps, almost at a running pace. Harvey looked up at the sky, and through the dense clouds, he could almost make out a small patch of blue sky.

_It's a good sign,_ he thought as he entered the large steel building.

Harvey laid his proposal for what to do about the Pandora problem on the thick plastic desk in the UN delegates meeting. As the various world presidents, kings, and dictators all quickly read through the digital papers he uploaded, he read his proposition aloud.

"Fellow delegates, you all know about my crazy ideas, like using comets to cool the planet down and feeding all our poisonous crops to clowns," Various leaders chuckled at the memory, "but today, I come to you with what I think is my most reasonable solution yet. We've all seen the footage of what the aliens have done to us, and rather than back down, like I've heard murmurs of from RDA's representatives, I have a different proposition. I am proposing that we recolonize the planet of Pandora." A series of hushed discursion from the other representatives showed that the former President's idea had hit home.

The RDA's representatives chimed in that they wished to speak. The speaker allowed it. "Excuse me, Harvey," The man said, "Sorry to interrupt your very encouraging speech, but you are going to have to flesh out that plan a bit more. For instance, unless the USA has some top secret lab somewhere, you don't have any interstellar ships to attempt such a crossing. And I have just received word from our board of directors. They have decided that it is not worth investing even more money in going to war with the natives."

The President sighed. "Look around you!" He said, waving his arms around, "We can't live here anymore! 'RDA won't find any profit in Pandora' Have you heard of a little thing called survival? We're at the end of this world, and you know that. Tell me, who here has actually been outside without a mask on?"

Nobody raised their hands. The RDA all began to silently converse with the board of directors across the internet. Harvey continued, "That's what I thought. The few people who remember what fresh air smells like are all old men like me! This planet used to be livable. It might as well be Pandora!"

"But we were impeding on their land!" The Native American Union representative said.

"Well, we tried to buy it off them, didn't we? We offered them all the benefits of modern science and industry in exchange for living in peace. You know what they did? The turned us down. They could have been uplifted to the level we are today, but no, they like the trees, they don't want to come down and live easy. Screw them! What some people seem to forget is that those aliens aren't even human! Why should we care about a bunch of dumb animals? For all we know, they can't even comprehend the technology we were offering them. Would anybody here honestly feel bad bulldozing a forest full of monkeys?"

Again, nobody objected to the president's logic. The room was hushed into silence by the sheer audacity of his proposal. An almost awe followed him as he continued to speak, "So what are we going to do? Let a bunch of tribals decide the fate of this race? Let the people who refused vaccines and condoms choose whether we live or die? We were nice to them out of pity. That's right, we felt sorry for them. Obviously they can't see that, so we must also now show them our fury. Let it be known, that I am bringing this proposition to the floor.

"I propose that the UN declares war, on the people of Pandora, and any other xenos that dare to oppose the will of Man!" The end of his speech was met with an uproarious applause, as several of the delegates began making phone calls to their heads of state, to get their militaries back up. "The going will be tough, and we _will_ need transportation." The president continued.

"RDA will be happy to ferry the great militaries of the world over to our colony, so that you may retake it in our honor!" The RDA podium boomed.

"Let me finish." Harvey said, "We'll get our transportation, along with the resources for twenty, thirty new ships, by dissolving the Research and Development Association hereby immediately." Another applause arose from the crowd of delegates, except for the RDA section, which was verbosely denying that they _could_ be dissolved.

"US special forces are already securing the starship dry docks, and our hackers have raided the bank accounts of the top members of the company. Other workers are being informed of their change in companies."

"You can't do this!" They said.

"We can, and are. You think that in times of crisis that what you own means anything? We'll all have to sacrifice a lot ensure the survival of this species, but it will happen, because not only because we must survive, but thrive, amongst the stars!"

"Hey, hey, buddy!" Somebody behind Mike said, "The line's movin' bud, keep up!"

Mike shook the daze from his head and took a few steps forward, into the refitted office building where the sign-ups were being held. The towering building's bottom glass windows had long been shattered by the many roadside bombs that had been going off on the streets below. Mike went through the cheap plastic airlock that surrounded the fifth floor of the structure. Inside, he noticed that nobody had taken their masks off.

Looking for the problem, Mike saw the cracked glass was to blame. He sat down in one of the white molded plastic lawn chairs that lined the room. After another hour of watching other hopefuls come and go, he heard his name called.

Inside, he met with the interviewer. He had a greasy brown suit jacket on over his black plastic undershirt. His gas mask was foggy and scratched from years of use outside.

He sighed heavily. "Alright, so, what's your story? Make it quick."

"Does it say what my last name is?" Mike asked.

The interviewer paused to actually think about the kid's name. "Wait, Quaritch? You're Quartich's son? Heh, I can see why you'd be here. Trust me kid, I just turned away three doctors, two marines, and even a former astronaut. What ever you want to leave this godforsaken rock for, it's not going to be good enough for the UN."

"You have my report right?" Mike asked.

"Yep, fresh out of high school ahead of your class, two grades ahead, and several major colleges are interested. I'd recommend Harvard. Ever since Nike bought it, it's gotten a lot better, more stylish."

"Just send it to the UN." Mike said.

"Now, hold on, I'm not just going to send this off because you say so. You're going to have to convince me to send you."

"I can learn. I'm in peak physical condition." He waited before letting the final point drop, "And I know that we're gonna need Marines to go in and, heh, 'negotiate' with the natives."

"And what makes you different than the other grunts that have tried to sign up?"

"I'm part of the power mech ROTC at school, you've seen them."

"Ah, yes, they're the best part of high school in my opinion."

"Watch this." He handed the interviewer a small flash drive.

After quickly scanning the files for viruses, he plugged it into the side of his holopad. An HD 3d movie began to play on its screen. On it, two cheap looking mechs were battling with a form of hand to hand kung-fu. One of them was throwing jabs and punches remorselessly, until the other toppled over. The victorious mech did a little dance before it's dirty screen lifted. A triumphant Mike emerged, to the roaring cheers of the crowd.

"Well, that's something." The interviewer said, "I'm convinced, but you'll have to explain yourself to the next up, I'm afraid." He explained as he typed a few keys into his pad before flipping it over towards Mike. Another badly dressed interviewer greeted him.

Newly elected UN Speaker Harvey Citad sat uncomfortably in his new chair. As the newly appointed War Council was discussing strategy for the upcoming invasion, Harvey was silently denying applications that were being sent in. He had already moved through about a million people, most of them had gotten on by bribery in the first place. One name scrolled by the screen that caught his attention, however.

Mike Quaritch, the son of his friend. He almost couldn't believe that the boy was old enough to try and enlist, although how he had made it quite so far was beyond him. Beside him, his income showed that he had been accepting checks from RDA, but it wouldn't total to anything to get him as high up as the UN spokesman.

Harvey quickly turned on the LCD windows of his new booth, and opened a channel to where Mike was being held. A young man's face, hard jawed and clean shaven, appeared on the politician's personal holopad.

"Hello there, son."

"Hey." Mike said.

"Before we continue, let me just congratulate you on a job well done so far. People richer and more determined than you haven't even had the grace of my presence or any attention on my part of less than a nanosecond, so congratulations, you're almost done."

"Well," Mike said, "You wouldn't imagine the hell those other interviewers put me through. I've been asked more questions than I've ever heard before in my life."

"Well, I like to keep things difficult. We only have about a million or so spots on our ships, so it's within reason that we need to be careful about not letting just anyone on. Now, the one below me wrote that you are quite an adept mech pilot. I also watched your video. Already got about a billion views on Tubeyou. Nice dancing."

"Thanks. My dad and me exchanged a couple of letters before I found out what happened. I had seen him riding one of those fancy power lifters. They're easy to fight in once you get the hang of it."

"I'm surprised that you managed to get a hunk of junk like that to work, let alone fight and dance. Here's the deal. I can't have my mission compromised because a Space Marine is gonna run off into the jungle for revenge. Promise me that your desire for revenge isn't going to conflict with your orders."

"Just don't tell me to stop killing those blue bastards, and you've got yourself the loyalest son of a bitch in space!"

Harvey couldn't help but smile. He knew that he couldn't let his personal feelings get involved, but for a second, as he had talked about fighting the Na'vi, he could see a flash of Miles in the kid. He was going to be a good soldier.

Pti'tun laughed as he played with his father. The two of them climbed the large spire of the new Hometree, which was still only the size of the other trees of the forest. He slid down a thick green vine into his father's strong arms. He giggled as the two tickled each other until both of their blue skin was red with happiness.

Neytiri called the two of them with one of her bird calls. They both slid down to the forest floor, where the rest of the Omaticaya Clan were busy preparing the night's feast. It had already been three years since the vile Sky People were sent back to their dead world.

Jake was surrounded by the little ones. Pti'tun asked him, "Father, tell us of the Time of Great Sadness."

Jake looked to Neytiri for support. "I'm not sure. It is a grim tale, not to be told about during times of happiness." The children moaned and begged for him to tell it. "Okay, okay. You might not have known this, but only three years ago, I spent most of my time with a people who came from the sky." His spectators looked in wide eyed amazement at that fact.

"But the sky is so far up!" One of the little ones said.

"I know, and I journeyed up there with them. They were many different browns and tans, but none were blue like us. They were short, and they waddled around on thick legs." The children giggled at the description. "But their world was dying. They wanted something buried deep in the ground, and they had to dig great holes to reach it. At first, they were kind. They gave us places to learn their ways, to talk like them, until all could. They brought powerful magic, and we grew prosperous with their help.

"But there were secrets behind each gift. They wanted the treasure from the ground right under Hometree, and they wanted us to move. I was asked to help them. I was reluctant, but they promised many things. I am still ashamed of my actions to this day. They destroyed Hometree with their evil magic, and sent us away. I united the tribes to stop them from destroying all the homes of the other clans.

"I lost many brothers in the battle for our land, but we won. The aliens were sent back to their dying world, and I became one with Eywa again."

Jake let the children think about his story. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the clean air, feel the moist ground on his bare feet, and listen to the chorus of the forest.

"What about the Forbidden Land?" One of the smaller ones asked.

"What about it? It's forbidden. Didn't your parents tell you?"

"Is that where they lived?" Another child asked.

"Yes, it is. And it is still a place of sadness. It is cursed with the evil spells and witch-craft of the Sky People. None are allowed to enter unless under threat of death. It is definitely not a place to speak of in a time of happiness. Or in sadness, for that matter."


	3. Chapter 3 Infinite Gulf

Chapter 3

Infinite Gulf

_Three Years Later_

Mike sat in the shuttle that would transport him from Earth to the newly christened assault ship _Destiny Ascension_ that was sitting in low orbit. He looked out the window next to him, and could see the silver metal ship come into view.

It boasted the same massive Unobtainium engines as the other ships in the terran fleet, but unlike the others, it's crew compartments were larger, and farther back than other models. A long flat body near the engines was another addition to the new ship. It had two sets of doors on one side, facing towards the Earth, containing the jump pods Mike and the other Space Marines would be using.

The cockpit stuck out from the huge space mirror, where Mike could see the double command decks of the Command Center, a floating self-sufficient house for Humanity's new leaders.

As they approached, Mike's muscles twitched nervously. Ever since he had been through the training regimen for the mission, his body had been on edge. He drew a breath, but rather than calming him, it only made him more ready to react to a sudden depressurization. Something still troubled him as the two ships docked. Nobody had told Mike who was in his unit, only what part he would be serving. Mike had also not seen a mech cockpit since his introduction to the military training, so he didn't know a single thing about his role.

He climbed through the crowded assault ship in no gravity. He checked the slip of paper they had handed him again, and found the cryo-chamber where he would be sleeping. It was slightly larger than the others, and it was surrounded by twice as many tubes and devices. It was next to several similar chambers. Mike waited for assistance, like the paper said.

"Hey." A man in a t-shirt and headphones said to him, "Looks like we're bunk mates." He pointed to the adjacent beds, "I'm from New York. Name's Gerg, what's yours?"

"Mike." Mike answered, "I guess I'm going to be one of the Space Marines the Speaker of the UN is so crazy about. I don't know how I'm gonna do. I'm not even trained as a pilot."

"Mike, you know these pods?"

"They look different. Why?"

"They're a special invention of my design. Look here," He pointed to a circular ring near the top of the square metallic box, "Regular cryo-sleepers freeze your whole body, this one only freezes ninety percent of you. The other ten percent is that piece of grey matter hopefully still floating' around in your in your skull."

"So that makes the trip longer!" Mike deduced.

"So you can train, stupid! You've got six years to learn your power suit inside and out. Hell, when we're done, you could probably build one in your sleep."

"Wow, that's actually pretty impressive. How's my brain gonna get oxygen?"

"It's a complex and confusing process that would probably only hurt your head if I tried to explain it to you."

"So why are they sending you?"

"I'm your squad's engineer. You think that just because you can name every moving part of your power suit, that you won't need somebody to really know his way around one?"

"Well, what got you here? I'm Quartich's son."

"_Wow_, that's _impressive_. Know what I did? Other than invent these nifty devices, I caused the stock market algorithms to crash, letting me buy for nothing, and sell for millions. Smart and rich, kid, that's what gets most people on this ship."

"So, our combat engineer is a genius, I'd hate to meet our heavy weapons expert."

"Y'all called?" A man in a ten gallon hat he had somehow smuggled onto the ship floated up, "Name's Tal, and I'm from the Texan Republic. How y'all doin'?"

"_Howdy, cowboy_, where's your six shooter?" Gerg mocked. His gesture was met with a fist to the gut.

"Now listen, bookworm, I may be the son o' a ranger, but I know more about death machines than you do 'bout techno. Those man-portable miniguns used in th' Texan Liberation? Those are mine. So are half the systems on your mech. The important systems. So don't call me a cowboy, unless you want me to really hurt ya."

Gerg coughed, but appeared to be alright. "Okay, okay, lesion learned. We're teammates, remember?"

Tal shrugged, "Sorry about the reaction. Kids in school called me th' Lone Ranger like it was goin' out ah style."

Mike counted his squad mates, and came up short. "Hey, we're still missing our fireman!" He exclaimed.

"They might 'ave put him on a different deck." Tel suggested.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, but are you ready for your systems checks?" A female flight attendant asked.

"Yeah, sure. Hey, what'll happen to our brains at the end of this? Are they going to die six years early?" Mike asked.

"Well, seeing as this technology has only been around for the last month, anything's possible." Gerg said.

A silent figure approached the four. He said nothing as he slipped into the small cube next to Gerg's. Before he was inside, Mike could barely make out his face. It has long and narrow, with a short braided haircut.

Gerg shook his head. "Great, a mute. Why is everybody here such a freak except for me?" He said, quickly putting on his headphones over his head to calm himself down, ignoring the daggers coming from Tal.

"Um, sir, you can't have those on when you go into your pod." The attendant said.

"Sorry, yo, just needed to calm down a bit." Gerg was stressed so much, his neutral accent was slipping back into his old Bostonian. Computer operating systems were one thing, but talking with people was too unpredictable for him. He took off his headphones, letting the huge drumming tones of his own techno music continue in his head.

"Please, no headwear." The attendant continued, "We can't very well scan your head with a ten gallon on top of it." She flirted.

"Excuse me, ma'm." Tal said, slowly taking his hat off, "I must'a forgotten to take it off." A huge puff of orange hair exploded out of the top. Gerg could barely suppress his chuckles.

"What? I like ma' hair long. What's it to you, stretch?"

"Nothin, _tuffie_." Gerg jumped into his pod before Tal could get a punch in.

"Excuse, me sir," The flight attendant told Mike, "But we're preparing for takeoff, you need to get into your pod."

Mike was shook out of his trance after watching the cast of characters battle before him. "Oh, sorry." He stuttered, "Just a little distracted. Sure thing."

"Just got a few hundred more brain dead soldiers like you to instruct." The attendant quipped at him, "Take your time."

Inside, Mike closed his eyes and tried not to think about anything, but he could already feel the anxiety of like being in the first day of school, despite the extraordinary circumstances. His thoughts back to his first days of high school were cut short when the flash freeze of the cryo-pod activated.

Sitting in dark nothingness, Mike could only assume that the programs had failed. He began to panic alone with his thoughts. _Six years, alone, with myself?_ He thought,_ I can't last that long! I'm gonna die down here!_

Suddenly, a bright green light blasted through the darkness. Green text floated in front of Mike's closed eyes. It said, "loading." Mike moved to touch it, before looking down, and seeing that he had no body. Slowly, the wire frame around him built up a generic looking room as the bar near the top of his vision filled. Mike looked down again, and found that the simulation was also building a body for him, and several of the other marines around him.

"Dude, try to keep your thoughts to yourself." Gerg said. His voice seemed to come from all around the virtual room, "We can hear everything you're thinking."

"Hey, sorry, I was just a little unnerved!" Mike said back.

"Unnerved?" A gravely voice shouted. It seemed to echo inside Mike's, and the rest of the group's consciousness, "A Space Marine is never unnerved! Shut your virtual mouth Privet Quaritch!" A uniformed officer shouted as he materialized. He wore a fancier uniform than the other soldiers, and his face was more detailed, actually moving to his words. He had a long face with deep pitted, squinting eyes. He continued, "My name is Officer Tark! You will learn to call me that, or else you'll get punished! You will use all the military discipline they've been drilling into your soft noggins, or you will be punished! Thinking so loud that the whole company can hear you," He looked at Mike, "Will get you punished!"

He took out a crudely drawn pistol, and pointed it at Mike. He could hear a shot ring out, before watching the same thing happen again in slow motion from a different angle. Mike could clearly see his poorly drawn face get blown off by Tark's pistol before slumping to the virtual floor.

Mike felt a huge pain in his head as he had a new model drawn for him. After his wire frame had finished rendering, the officer continued, "This is only a simulation, and you will all die many painful deaths here. You could call it a sort of artificial hell. But you will learn! Time is not important here. We can make an hour last a day, or a week five minutes. Time comes from our perception of our surroundings, maggots! Now, since Privet Mike is so curious about the powers of our minds, everyone will do twenty pushups…"

_That's not so bad_, Mike thought quietly

The officer smirked at the comment, "In double gravity!"

The company all fell to the floor under the increased weight of the area. Only the drill sergeant was unaffected. "Now, I have been given relief from the realities of this world, but you maggots are going to find that this is not going to be a cake walk for me either! I've only got six years real time to whip you ungrateful lot into the best mental shape you've ever been, and to be honest," He looked at Mike, "I'm not sure I will succeed. Have faith in your minds, boys, and you just make it out of here sane. I DON'T SEE ANY PUSHUPS!"

Jake woke up in the middle of the night. He was covered in a cold sweat, and he could feel something was wrong. All the time he had spent on Pandora, he had only felt this way once before, and that was when he knew that Hometree would be destroyed.

As Jake thought about it, ha had only felt that danger when in his avatar, but he simply dismissed it as being part of something greater than himself. He noticed that someone was running up to the lower branches of Hometree. It was Norm, riding behind one of Jake's clan from Hell's Gate. Norm dismounted warily, aware he was in danger outside of the compound.

Jake jumped down from the tree. "What is it?" He asked.

"It's a transmission. It's as we feared." Norm said, looking nervously at Jake's large form, "Hey, how are you? Any more headaches?"

"Only when I think too hard. I'm fine, really. I'm not supposed to be the thinker, remember?"

"You need to see the transmission, Jake." Norm said, "It's not entirely what we expected."

Jake's head suddenly stung slightly. He held back the expression on his face. "You know how I feel about that place." He said.

"You need to see it. I can't explain it, it's just, you know…"

Jake's body seemed to fight the urge, but he replied, "Okay, let's go." He ran and hooked up his queue to a random Direhorse. He let Norm get on his before turning to go. He noticed that Pti'tun was up, and looking at him.

"Father, where are you going?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.

"I have to go to the Forbidden Place. Go back to sleep, I shall be home in the morning." Jake said.

Pti'tun feigned sleep until he didn't hear his father's horse over the chorus of insect noises of the jungle. He silently slipped out of his hammock, and quietly approached a young Direhorse. He hooked up his queue to it and quickly rode in the same direction as his father.

As he approached the Forbidden Place, the jungle grew silent. The trees began to thin out, until only thin strands of canopy separated the young Na'vi from the sky. He felt naked without a thick green carpet over him, but it was one of the few times Pti'tun had seen the night sky. He looked up in wonder, as the darkness was separated by thousands of points of light. His father said that the Sky People came from one such dot. Pti'tun couldn't help but imagine how many other people lived on those other points of light, just like him.

As he carefully approached clearing of trees, he got more and more nervous about the shadow on the horizon. It grew larger, at first Pti'tun thought it was a rocky hill, but as he approached it, it became clear that it wasn't made of any kind of stone he knew of. It's luminousness surface shined in the light of Polyphemus, the massive ball of blue beauty that took up half the night sky.

There were lights emanating from the rocky structure, but they were of a color that Pti'tun had never seen before. As he climbed the outer wall of the outcropping, he couldn't help but look at the huge, treeless plains inside it. They were made of stone, something Pti'tun couldn't understand. He heard his bare feet slap on the hard stone. He walked carefully over to one of the walls, where he could see moving lights.

He could see his father, sitting next to his Sky Person friend, watching another Sky Person talking. Although he couldn't understand the small thing's words at the moment, he would later learn that the message had said, "To the Traitor of Humanity. Yes, that means you, Jake. Let me just say I really want you to be the one who gets this, because only a fellow Human could possibly understand the warning I speak of. You may have known about me during your time as a member of the Human race, but just in case you've forgotten your past life, my name is Harvey Citad, and I was President of the United States. I'm just here to let you know that we're coming, Jake Sully. We're coming and we're staying. We've lost our home world, Jake. You can't imagine what that does to a Human's soul, but it has made ours hard and cold. There will be no negotiating this time around. Your people will know the cruelty that we're capable of. We could unleash a hell the Na'vi couldn't grasp even if we told them six years in advance of it, but know this, you will die. Your entire race will die. Pandora is our home now. We're just on the way to claim it. Enjoy your time, because it's the last time you will live the stagnant life of the Na'vi!" The transmission cut.

Jake looked out the window, deep in thought. He looked around, trying to process the information. Norm looked at him.

"What are we going to do now?" He asked, "We can't stop an entire invasion force."

"I think we can, like last time." Jake said.

"That was a security force from a mining colony!" Norm said, "And you heard the man, they're not going to play nice! Jake, they could do anything to us."

"We can't give up!" Jake said, "We could advance ourselves, learn to use gu- ARGH" He stooped over, his head coursing with pain. Norm went over to him. In his breathing mask, Jake could barely see through the fog of his own heavy breathing. Every fiber of his being screamed out against the thought of advancing his people hurting particularity in his queue.

As he struggled for breath, he could almost make out a chanting voice in his own head. _No better… no better… no better…_ It chanted over and over, until Jake followed along with his own thoughts. It suddenly occurred to him that advancing would be the worst possible thing to do. As he forgot about his plans, he could feel Norm shaking him.

"Jake… Jake?" he said, "Oh, thank god! I thought you were a goner! You've got to be more careful. I'm not one to complain, but that Eywa gave you a crappy link to your new body."

"Don't joke about Her like that." Jake said weakly, not entirely sure where he was.

"And look who I found snooping around outside." Norm said, pulling Pti'tun in front of his father.

Jake felt weak, but couldn't help but smile as he saw his son was almost the same size as Norm was. He took his son by the shoulder. "Let's go home." He said.

"You're not mad?" Pti'tun asked him.

"No, you needed to see this place. I'll tell you about it when your older." Jake said as the two of them said good bye to Jake's strange friend, and left the base.

"This, maggots, is what you're going to be piloting. It's the Thaltan Xterminus Heon 600." Officer Tark explained. After several days, Mike and the rest of the pilots had been separated for a different briefing than the other soldiers.

A display model materialized behind him. It was a ten foot tall humanoid figure. It had a minigun instead of a left hand. Its right arm split into two separate multi-jointed arms. "Consider yourselves lucky. You've got almost six inches of hardened steel to stop incoming arrow volleys. Unlike the power lifters used during the fated battle of Quartich's Last Stand, these powered armored tanks don't have any flimsy windows or open canopies. Notice the single camera near the top,"

He pointed to the "head" of the machine, where a swiveling dome turned towards the group. A single lens focused on them. "You won't have to worry about loosing your feed, though." A simulated Na'vi appeared behind the group, and began to shoot arrows at the mech.

They bounced harmlessly off the thick metal surface. Even the ones aimed for the glass of the camera on the head were stopped by the thick Plexiglas. Tark continued his explanation. "It also contains a motion detector system, so that after the battle, you can scan for any stragglers." He touched the head of the mech, which split in two halves, revealing two different sensors inside. "Even if your camera gets hit, you can still rely on your motion detector to fight. Just remember, only use this feature after the battle, as it exposes your camera from its shield." As if to demonstrate, the Na'vi behind them fired another shot off, shattering the camera's thin lens.

Tark took out his pistol, and blew the simulated figure's head off, making the model disappear, but not before it let out a stream of blood from the new hole in it's head. Mike had never gotten quite used to dieing, but he figured that was part of the point. He dreaded what it must be like to not care about loosing your life for no point. He had learned through the days to silently think to himself, his thoughts reduced to emotions that only he could feel.

"Now, who wants to pilot one?" Tork watched as all the pilot's hands raised in unison.

"Hm, choices, choices. Now would be a good time to mention what the exercise is. You're going to be engaging one on one combat with…" He waited to see if anybody wanted to back out now, "… me." That did it. All the hands dropped except for one. "Quaritch! Are you volunteering?" Tork asked.

"Sir, yes sir!" Mike said.

"Well, and here I thought that I'd have you lot draw straws. Alright, get in." He motioned to the THX, which opened for him. Its chest spread apart, revealing the cockpit inside. Mike climbed on the ladder attached to the side of the machine's leg. He sat slowly into the padded seat of the mech.

Mike searched for the switch that would start it, but suddenly, he felt the machine fall backwards from a massive punch. He saw that Tark had already gotten into his newly formed THX, and had turned it on.

He desperately tried flipping the switches nearest to him. One turned on the screen, another opened the dome on the mech's head. Mike cursed under his breath as he finally found the switch that made the two joysticks next to him stiffen in their position. He thought that he would find pressure gloves that would let him control the features, but as Tark got ready to charge at him, Mike had no choice but to rely on the strangely shaped plastic joints. He pushed one to the side, and felt his suit flip from the sudden movement of the attached minigun arm.

Mike dodged his officer's attack, but he was coming around for another pass. Mike used the foot pedals to get his mech shakily to its feet. He tested the minigun, but found it was out of ammo.

"Gonna have to do better than that, Quaritch!" Tark taunted as he ran toward the new pilot.

Although the rest of the mech was foreign, the foot pedals seemed to Mike to work like those of a power lifter. They were also more agile and limber than the mechs he had driven before.

Mike jumped, flipped over the charging officer, spun around, and kicked him over. He twisted to regain his balance, before trying to stomp on the fallen machine. Tark spun his mech, just missing the heavy foot that had stomped close to his dome.

"I thought this was going to be easy." Tark said, "You're just like your father, you don't go down without a fight!"

He jumped to his feet, his two multi-jointed arms extending from their folded position. Mike saw the thin metal rods move swiftly towards him. He had barely grabbed the controls for his own arms when he was already on the ground again. The two arms above him each had cameras in their palms, and two thumbs. The fingers tapered off into sharp points.

The hands dove towards Mike's cockpit, slamming through where the two sections of his armor joined. He could see the massive pointed daggers only a few inches from his face. Mike thought quickly, bringing his minigun arm around, smashing the officer's hands off with a satisfying crunch.

The screen Mike was using to see had broken with the splitting of his armor, so he opened the cockpit's armor.

Tark laughed. "Bad idea, kid. You're dead."

He brought around his arms again, Mike was only able to dodge them by a few feet as they slashed at his exposed chest. Mike groped the controls for his own arms, but he could barely keep himself safe, let alone fight with the exotic arms. They had two more joints than a standard arm, making controlling the things difficult and unnatural.

Mike was on his last legs. He had leapt backward to avoid the prongs of Tark's fingers. He could hear the thoughts of the other pilots, who were thinking aloud while Tark was distracted. Their thoughts weren't encouraging. Mike watched as the officer got ready for another attack. He couldn't dodge the next one while he was midair.

He felt a sudden piercing pain in his chest. The officer's prongs had hit home. Mike could feel himself being lifted out of his machine. He had been hit in the gut, and was bleeding profusely. As the world started to get fuzzy around the edges, Mike could feel the old fear of dieing again.

Tark opened the doors to his own mech. He brought Mike closer, and pulled out a pistol from the side of the cockpit. He seemed disappointed.

"I'm sorry, Quaritch. It was fun while it lasted, though. Let me just put you out of your miser-" He stopped. He could feel something against his chin. Something cold, and hollow. Mike had gotten the gun out of his mech's cockpit and hidden it on his uniform. Tark smiled. "Aren't you a little basterd?"

*BLAM!* He felt a sudden rush as his head became decoration for the ceiling of his mech. The massive machine fell over, crashing to the floor with the loss of its pilot. Mike slowly pulled himself from the claws of the motionless machine. He knew he was not going to survive unless Tark fixed him up. Or killed him, for that matter.

Mike watched as his officer slowly materialized in front of him, his unique face filled with anger. He walked slowly over to him, lying of the floor from the blood loss. Mike could see the darkness of Tark's gun's barrel in front of his eye.

Suddenly, Mike wasn't afraid. He knew it was the end, and he accepted it. Sometimes your best wasn't good enough. Mike almost embraced the cold darkness when he suddenly felt a rush of warmth. It wasn't like getting shot in the head, which Mike still wasn't sure how they had made accurate, but more like getting filled with blood again. He looked down, and saw that the gaping hole where his breakfast had been was whole again. Tark was standing over him.

"I must admit, maggot, I wasn't expecting you to have the guts to off your own officer." Tark said. His face was hard, "If I knew what was running through your head, and I do, I would say that was revenge."

"Well, sir," Mike said, standing up, "I just did what you ordered me to, which was to kill you. You might want to be more careful the next time you ask."

Tark's features turned to a smile. It looked as if the model he was using wasn't designed for it. His teeth were pixilated, and his face stretched unnaturally. "Alright, Quaritch, alright." He said.


	4. Chapter 4 Reunion

Chapter 4

Reunion

Mike gathered with the rest of the Space Marines after he had rested for the night. He knew what was coming. All the training over the last six years had a purpose, after all. Mike knew that avenging his father's death meant obeying the authority, but he hoped that his chance would come. And if it didn't, he still knew that they would win.

Officer Tark had drilled the battle plan into the Marine's heads so hard that Mike could remember dreaming about it for weeks. He hadn't seen much of his squad, though. They had been training separately from the mech pilots. Tal, Gerg, and Mutie's models were slightly less defined than Mike's, and he listened hard to the thoughts coming from each figure.

"I can't stand that officer!" Tal said, "He's so messed. I've fought before, ya know. Buuuuut nooooo, it's 'start from square one, tex,' and 'How did y'all pass for a soldier, tex?'" He fumed.  
"Dude, shut up about him." Mike said, "He's alright. You have to admit, he can be reasonable."

"We heard, man." Gerg said. His Bostonian accent was stronger than ever, "You kicked his ass to next week. He sweet talks ya 'casue he likes a challenge."

"Well I've had no problems with him after that. Besides, how did you guys hear about that at all? We've been separated for months."

"Years." Gerg corrected him, "Trust me, time can get weird when they're in charge. That six hour nap you just had? That probably sent us forward six months. And I've been mixing wit' everybody, by the way. An engineer needs to know his stuff about that THX too."

"I never saw you." Mike said.

"I don't wanna interrupt. It's that simple. Besides, what do you care? It's not like we're comrades or anything. They're training us separately for a reason."

"We all go our separate ways. I'm headed strait to the closest desert." Tal said, "Not that y'all are good comp'ny, but I wanna get a ranch goin."

"I've got a colony to build." Gerg said, "What're you doin' after this?"

Mike paused. He had never thought of it, but he didn't have a plan. "I don't know."

"Not much use for a mech pilot once this is all done. Not for someone with your training anyway." Gerg said.

"I thought that we were only needed for securing the planet." Mike said.

"What, you wanna go back to that steaming turd called earth?" Tal asked.

"I left everyone else I knew behind there." Mike said, "Everyone I've ever known. I miss it all."

"Earth's dead, man." Gerg said, "We left it for a reason. There ain't never goin' back."

"Attention, everyone! Shut up!" Officer Tark took the stand in front of the different squads. "Christ, I was expecting you all to remember your training. Well, seeing as I can't execute all of you, I guess I'll just have to let this one slide…" He chuckled. Mike noticed that he was wearing a nice, white uniform. "Today is a very special day, after all. You have all made me so proud. I'm happy to call you my comrades, and Space Marines, of the United Human Front. You have all done your best over these six years, and I know that once you touch down on that planet's surface, there'll be hell to pay. And it'll be done in blood. Blue blood. Kill one of those basterds for me, gentlemen!" His speech raised a cheering from the audience.

The cryo-sleep disengaged. Mike looked up, at the metal roof of his pod. It was still the gunmetal grey that it was when he had entered. He slowly checked himself. His body hurt like a bitch, but his mind was clear. Across from him, he could hear Gerg swearing to himself as he fiddled with the latch of the door outside.

"These god-damn-frackn'-piece-o- oh hey, there we go." Mike slid out of the pod, looking around at all the bright lights of the cockpit. He felt like he was hung over, but he also wanted to see if they had truly arrived. Already he had began to doubt whether or not they had actually traveled to Pandora.

Before he could get to a window, however, he noticed that one of the other cryo-pods hadn't opened yet. It's door slowly opened, and a wrinkled hand pulled the occupant carefully out. Mike didn't remember seeing anyone so old in the simulation.

As he got a good look at the old man's face, however, Mike realized that it was Officer Tark. His face had several scars on it, and his flesh hung low off his chin, but it was unmistakable. Mike saluted out of instinct.

Tark chuckled softly. "Enough of that, son." He said slowly.

Mike relaxed. "Sir, what happened? Did your pod malfunction?"

"No, no I'm just old." The old officer said, "They needed the best, and I trained both your father and the Prime Minister of the United Human Front when they were your age. I remember being so proud your dad. Best damn soldier on earth, in my opinion."

"I'm guessing that you're not going down in one of the drop pods, huh?" Mike asked.

"I'm afraid I'm too old to go down with the fresh meat. I can't hold your hand forever, maggot." Tark seemed to get slightly younger for a second, "Now get going, Quaritch, you've got a species to save!"

Mike nodded as he floated over to a window. He noticed that the rest of his team was following him. Gerg, Tal, even Mutie all looked outside at the blue planet when Mike had had his glance. He already knew what the planet looked like. Hell, he could name the tribes that lived where they were dropping.

"Any idea what we'll actually find down there?" Tal asked.

"No idea. But whatever we discover, we're kickn' its ass. Human style!" Mike led his team to their drop pod, just like he had been shown during the hundreds of drills that he had been part of. It was almost surreal, to go through the same motions, only instead of seeing his low-poly hands working the panel, he had his real hands, and his squad mates were really right behind him.

The airlock to the assault drop pod opened with a metallic hiss. Mike floated over to his station. He looked into the mech's eye, coding in his password and let it scan his eye. The metal chest slid open, filling the room with a new car smell. Mike realized for the first time this was the real deal. In the simulation, the mechs had always been brand new, but this one still had the plastic wrap seat cover on it. It's lights had never turned on before. The switches in the off position had never been moved. It was enough to make him cry with joy.

They were really going to do it. The natives would never stand a chance.

"All troops have reported in, Mr. Prime Minister." One of the operators on the bridge said.

"Call me Mr. Citad or Mr. President," Harvey didn't exactly like being called Prime Minister. It made him feel fruity. He motioned to the communications operator, "Open a channel to the Space Marines. I want to wish our boys well."

"Yes sir, Mr. Prime Minister, sir!" The operator said. He flipped several switches, not looking back at the irritated leader.

Harvey straitened himself out, before beginning his prepared speech. Although he had just came out of cryo-sleep, he felt as if he had truly waited six years to give it. "Men, and women, of the First New Horizon Drop Squad, in a few moments, you are going to be heading strait into the seedy, beating heart of the enemy. You see only enemy territory before you, it's the entire planet. Every life form on that planet will do its absolute best to end your life.

"Across the gulf of space we have traveled, the best and brightest of Humanity. Whatever you find down there, every horror you will see and do, remember, you are there for the survival of our species. Earth is dead. We are all that is left. When you look into the eyes of your enemy, see not the large green eyes of a fellow sentient. See Humanity, every man, woman, and baby that wretched creature would destroy should you fail. They think they have a god behind them. They think that a thousand humans should die so one of theirs may live. They think that living in harmony in disgusting solidification is better than progressing their species. Prove. Them. Wrong. Go out there, and put a firm human boot up the blue ass of anything that dares attempt to stop you!" He turned off the channel as he rolled up his paper speech. In a time when paper was scarce, he still enjoyed the crinkle of a finished document folded up in his breast pocket.

"Thirty seconds to drop time." A technician noted, "Releasing faux shower." Several puffs of silver flakes were shot below the vessel. Harvey wished he could see the look on the native's faces when they were treated to a meteor shower. Courtesy of Humanity.

On the ground, Jake looked up at the sky. It had been six years since he had gotten his little message from the President. He had looked into the sky ever since he had seen the message, and had named several of the old stars he had remembered from his high school astronomy class. Norm and the other scientists would call him if they tried to land at Hell's gate.

"You can't see them from the sky." Neytiri said, "They come from beyond the blackness."

"Yes." Jake couldn't help but say. He had tried on many occasions to explain that the Sky People are really from space, but it was beginning to get harder and harder to remember what life was like on the old Earth. His headaches were getting better, and Neytiri always seemed to know what helped him avoid them.

"Look, Jake, a star shower." Neytiri pointed.

It was true, the sky was full of streaks of light. Jake and Neytiri smiled at the sight. "They only come in a time of great happiness. This is a good sign, Jake." Neytiri said.

Jake couldn't help but feel happy too. "Everything will be okay. These headaches will go away, and we'll live in this forest, just like we always will." He could feel his head getting better as he said and thought it.

The two leaned closer as they watched the spectacular display, even talking about the slightly larger ones that seemed to fall right next to them.

"Capsule twenty, you're up!" The launch coordinator said, "You're cleared for firing."

"Roger command," Mike said, flipping the ignition switches inside his cockpit. His dashboard lit up, and his suit's Unobtainium reactor hummed in anticipation. "Ready everybody?" He asked.

"Born ready." Gerg said, "Punch it!"

Mike complied. As the last of the drop pods fell away, the commander opened a channel for the last time. "God speed, you magnificent bastards!" He said.

Mike watched through his camera's eye as the other pods beside his lit up a bright white. His own view was obstructed the white light began to encase his team's capsule. Mike carefully watched the altimeter. It was decreasing rapidly, but the air was still too thin deploy the parachutes on the pod.

"Firing retro-rockets." Gerg said.

The craft lurched, but Mike could see that the numbers were falling slower. They were reaching the target zone. Mike checked the settings calmly one last time. The display on his suit showed that they were falling slower. He took a deep breath, thought happy thoughts, and pressed the button that released the chutes. He could hear several popping sounds as high-pressure air cannons shot out the canvas sheets.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, the craft lurched to one side. Red warning lights began to incessantly flash all around the cockpit. He scrambled across the dials, falling over himself inside the cramped cockpit. He unclipped his harnesses, and floated over to the correct switch.

"The retros are almost gone!" Gerg stopped screaming on the other end long enough to say.

The retrorockets stopped firing, and Mike quickly punched the emergency parachute button. A large yellow canopy opened up above the pod. Mike tried to get back into his seat. They were still falling too fast. The altimeter counted down quickly, flashing red as they neared the ground. He felt his seat come up to greet him just as he got into it.

Gerg slowly opened his eyes. If they were in heaven, then it definitely sucked. The inside of their pressure cabin was bent into an unrecognized form, the roof almost touching the floor in some places. Sparks were flashing from where the original lights had been a second ago.

A quick visual check showed that nothing serious had happened to him. He shook Tal. The Texan grumbled, before turning over and remembering where they were. Mutie was already awake, nervously twiddling his thumbs.

"_Mike, hey, get up man_." Gerg whispered. He noticed that the airlock was broken open. He adjusted his gas mask, which he had put on during the descent. Mike didn't respond.

Tal tried to stand up in the small room. He sat down after just barely getting up. "Damn it, ma suit's outta commission." He grumbled, "Get out there and wake up junior. He can get us back to the base."

"Right." Gerg said. He tried to move as quietly as the bulky power armor he wore could allow. They couldn't afford to be discovered this early. Mutie followed him out. Gerg swung out of the bent landing pod.

It was obvious that their landing had been anything but stealthy. A swath of forest had been taken with the crash landing, and small fires lit up the clearing they had made. Gerg looked around fearfully, but could see no signs of life besides the bugs around him. He climbed up the wreaked pod, towards Mike's mech, which seemed undamaged by the fall. He turned on the holodisplay on his left arm, and began to test the mech's functions.

"He _should_ be fine in there." He whispered on the radio, "I think he's just K.O.'d from the fall. His TXH's fine."

He looked at Mutie. He was waving his arms frantically. When he saw that Gerg was looking, he turned on his flame thrower and blasted the immediate fauna in heavy radiation. The vegetation around him ignited in a bright light, along with several humanoid forms that had been hiding in the brush.

"We've been spotted!" Gerg shouted, "Tal, get your gun." He began pumping shotgun shells into the fleeing natives.

"I'm grounded, remember?" Tal said.

"They drilled us in unpowered suits for three god damn years! Get the hell up!" Gerg yelled.

"Fine!"

Gerg could hear the whole jungle erupt with the sound of horns from the surviving sentries. Mutie began blasting the surrounding vegetation with his Unobtainium reactor. Tal jumped out of the crushed pod, a large minigun in both hands.

"Would y'all kindly cover me? This is gonna take a sec'." His strained voice said, "Christ, this suit's heavy." He began setting up a tripod on the charred earth. "And don't get me started on this gun!"

"Just hurry." Gerg said, loading his shotgun with more shells, "I'm not exactly a front line soldier over here."

Gerg jumped off the crashed pod just as he began to see outlines through the trees. They stopped when Mutie covered their large shadows with another line of flames. Tal was pulling a large chain of bullets from his backpack. Arrows began to fly past him as the panicked attackers tried to hit them while avoiding the sting of Mutie's flamethrower.

Suddenly, a stream of bullets flew past the two defenders. Tal's minigun was spinning wildly, flashing as he sent tracers across the jungle.

"Mike! Wake up, sleepy head!" He yelled, "We're not gunna last forever."

Gerg opened a comm. line to his commanders. "Command, this is unit three double miner. We are down in hostile territory, and we need assistance."

"All available units are currently busy infiltrating Hell's Gate compound, double miner. Try not to let the natives know you're here and get back on track."

"A little late for that!" Tal said over the roar of his gun.

"Affirmative," Gerg said, "We've already met resistance in this sector."

"Until Hell's Gate is taken, we will be unable to send reinforcements. Repeat, you're on your own for a good few hours."

"God damn it!" Gerg said. He instantly pumped a shotgun shell into a half dead Na'vi crawling towards him.

Mike twitched, then suddenly woke up. He looked around in confusion, before hearing over the radio about his comrades. He quickly rebuckled his harness and activated his mech. It stood up on the twisted metal of the old drop pod, and turned towards the incoming Na'vi. They had taken cover from Tal's minigun, and Mutie's flamer.

Mike reved his minigun and began to clear out the incoming xenos. They fell as the large metal beast's high caliber shells blew chunks of their blue flesh away. A large, metallic voice boosted Mike's own. "YOUR FILTHY WAYS ARE NO MORE, HATED ALIENS! RUN NOW, OR FOREVER SUFFER THE WILL OF MAN!"

It surprised the rest of his squad, who turned around after watching the natives' retreat, to see Mike's battle suit leaning over them. Much quieter over the radio, he said, "Sorry about that, guys, I must have hit my head during the crash. You guys didn't have too much trouble without me, did you?"

"No, none at all." Tal said sarcastically, "Listen, I'd sure appreciate it if you'd carry me back to the base, seeing as I'm out of juice at the moment."

"Well, seeing as you're being so polite." Mike responded, "Maybe I'll just leave you to the xenos. Maybe they'll mistake you for their tree god and worship you to death."

"Ha. Ha. Very funny. Get me back to base already."

"Okie dokie, cowboy!" Mike mocked.

"Just 'cause you're in that big fancy machine doesn't mean I won't kick your ass."

"Shut up and hold still." Mike said. Although he knew that Tal could be flailing around as much as he liked and it wouldn't make a difference, he still liked ordering the Texan about. Grasping the controls to his two robot arms with one hand, Mike expertly picked up the limp soldier.

"Make one doll comment and I'll fill ya full a holes." Tal said as Mike lead the rest of the squad to Hell's Gate.

A rumble in the forest made Mike spin in its direction. Gerg quickly scanned the archives for a match on the sound. He didn't like what he found.

"Hammerhead Titanothere. And an angry one at that." He watched as Mike spun up his minigun to kill it. "Normal bullets aren't good enough. You're only going to make it mad."

"Noted." Mike said, lowering his gun. A sudden blast sent a stream of clouds from one of his shoulders. A rocket flew deftly towards the thing's head, which exploded, causing the creature to slump onto the ground. "Let's go." He said smugly.

Gerg quickly took a picture with his arm-mounted camera.

"Well, I'm glad to see you boys are back from your little odyssey." The newly promoted Commander Tark commented on the four as they went through the gates near one of the ends of the compound. "You've just about alerted every xeno and alien in the area. PRIVET MIKE!"

Mike stopped looking at the floor through his mech's camera to focus on the angry officer. "Sir?" He asked.

"Good job saving that TXH from the enemy. We've got one more for defense now." He paused, "with you as the pilot."

Mike awoke from his daze. "I've been up all night!" He protested.

"That's what combat stims are for!" Tark shouted. Despite looking so frail, his lungs seemed to be enjoying their exercise.

As Mike took another pill from the pouch inside his cockpit, he waited for the darkness on the edges of his vision to clear before he powered up his refitted mech. Gerg stepped out in front of him.

Through his mask, he radioed up to Mike, "You're good to go. Remember, field reloading is out of the question. Once you're out, you're out until you get back here."

"It's a good thing I've got twenty bullets for every living thing in this goddamn jungle!" Mike said, brandishing his cannon with a swift move of his joystick.

"Don't get to thinking you're invincible, now." Tal said, leaving the airlock of the base, "Enough hits to that dome of yurs', and y'all are gonna have a real bad day."

"Noted." Mike said, "Where were you, anyways?"

"Just say'n hi to our POW's. They're a wimpy bunch, ya know? Looks like they haven't had a real meal in weeks."

"Just don't get any ideas about leaving yourself!" Gerg joked.

Tal and Mike both chuckled. "Y'all got that right."  
Commander Tark chimed in over the radio, "Enough lollygagging, maggot! We need another body on the northern edge of the perimeter. Get gassed up and get going!"

Gerg unplugged the coolant pump from the side of Mike's suit. "You're good to go. Got about ten hours of coolant before it needs replacing. Don't go cracking that pump, unless you like liquid lead on your lap."

Mike felt the warm left side of his THX. It felt like a beating heart. "Right, see you guys later." He said, waving to them as he exited the newly raised gate out of the compound.

As he drearily descended into the new earthworks that surrounded the complex, Mike opened a comm. link to his pilot's line.

"Eyyyy, Mikey! What's up man? You get the shaft from old Tarky?" One of his comrades asked.

"You know it. They gotta find somebody to blame for their failures." Mike said. He liked his fellow pilots. They were like him, ready and eager for a fight with monsters.

"Damn, dog, that sucks. You shoulda seen what we found when we took this place. Whole camp of the blues. It was funny when they tried to plead for their tree god to save them. Real funny." He let Mike fill in the gaps of the story.

"Cool story bro." Another Marine added, "Those granola bar chewing traitors never knew what hit them. I saw one get lit up by a flamer. Fool screamed and ran around like a chicken without a head for almost seven minutes before he stopped. Good times."

"Yeah, that'll teach those human-killers." Mike said, "Uh, Wortan, what's the situation right now?"

"You gotta faulty comm. link, bro? Open your map!" Wortan said.

Mike slapped his forehead. "Sorry, I guess I'm a little more tired than I thought." He pressed a button on the side of his seat, which brought up a blue thermal map.

"See that blob to the north, scanners indicate that's the indigenous defenders. You're gonna get yourself some good kills today. They've got cavalry and infantry. Looks like they've been waiting there for a while now. They're headed over this way, too." Wortan said, highlighting the map.

"And that blob in the south?" Mike asked.

"They're some of the local fauna. They've been gathering there for about a few hours now. Looks like their old tree god is gonna throw us a little surprise."

"Good thing we've got a little surprise for it." Mike said.

"Look alive out there, Marines!" Tark said over the other line, "We've got movement to the north. Keep one eye on your bullet count, boys." He joked.

"Of course, sir. I'll send you our spent shells as a trophy." Wortan said.

"You smug bastard," Tark said, "You've got five seconds before they cross the line of sight. Get ready."

"I can already hear their war horns." Mike said over the other line.

"A sneak attack this ain't." Wortan said.

The Na'vi charged out of the forest into the newly formed clearing that surrounded the base. They had stopped at the sight of their new opponents. Mike could hear Wortan turning on his speakers.

"ATTENTION ALIEN SCUM!" Wortan's amplified voice reverberated through the metal of Mike's suit, "YOU ARE TRESSPASSING ON LANDS OWNED BY HUMANITY. YOU HAVE FIVE SECONDS TO LEAVE BEFORE WE USE FORCE!" The words were simultaneously spoke in the local languages after Wortan was finished reading the written statement.

"A'poota!" One of the aliens on a horse proclaimed. The crowd began to cheer. Mike's translator said it had said, "Never."

"It appears that we will have to force them out." Wortan said menacingly over the radio, "Boys, execute order two with extreme prejudice in three seconds."

Mike counted down the seconds. The enemy began to charge at their position. Three. They blazed right past the newly fresh pieces of dirt without a second thought. Two. They jumped over the raised mound of dirt meant to slow their escape. One. They ran towards the defender's specially made trench.

"Fire." Wortan said calmly.

Mike's already spun up minigun began to chew through the infantry in front of him. They stopped in their tracks as bullets began to rain down upon them like a hurricane of death. As they tried to retreat, the earthen mound they had leapt over so easily before now seemed to be twice its height. Because it was. They had failed to notice the floor dropping several feet while they were charging. It forced the inexperienced fighters to vault a wall of loose ground, something life in the jungle didn't prepare them for.

Mike witnessed as men and horse lived and died as one as he sprayed a steady cone of fire in their general direction. Some of the soldiers retained their composure, and tired desperately to return fire into the machines killing their comrades. The arrows bounced off harmlessly, or broke in the joints, just like in the thousands of hours of simulations showed they would.

The living soon were trying to use the dead to climb out of the kill zone. Those that tried to run away from the massacre were treated to explosions from below due to the landmines planted there only hours before. Soon there were only a few who were lucky enough to get past the defenses.

As Mike opened up his scope app to snipe the stragglers, Wortan stopped him. "No, let them go." He said, "Let them tell the warning we gave."

"Good work men!" Tark said over the radio, "I've got warm fuzzies from command about what we just pulled off. Our boys in the south should be cleaning up their little mess."

"Thank you, sir." Wortan said, "Everybody do a final sweep before we head back. Drinks are on me tonight!"

Mike pressed another button. He could hear the hiss of the motors on his dome swivel open, revealing the sensitive motion detectors underneath.

Pti'tun watched from the cover of the deep jungle with his father. At first, the young Na'vi was curious as to why his father had not led the charge, but it soon became obvious why. He stood, a serious look on his face.

"It is as we feared." He whispered, "I must warn the other tribes. Come."

Pti'tun couldn't hear his father, though. An inexplicable rage had overcome him. He ran out, past the cover of the forest, through a clearing in the earth-bombs, up to the trench, towards the stone giants. Jake could only watch in horror as his only son charged the massive giants alone. He kept low to the ground, using well honed instincts to keep out of view of the monsters.

They appeared to be celebrating. Their heads turned towards the forest, and opened in a hiss. White steam poured from the halves as red glowing equipment that he had thought was the creature's eye stood unprotected in it's stone shell.

Moving slowly, and low to the ground, Pti'tun raised his bow. It's stone tip gleamed in the afternoon sun. As he carefully drew back the string, he could tell that the creature seemed to be looking only part of the time, like an unaware animal. He took a deep breath, and let his bow go free.

The arrow flew strait and true, finding its mark inside the creature's red eye. It shattered like a piece of pottery, sending the beast reeling in the pain. Pti'tun got up, and tried to run, before he felt stone cold hands grab him roughly and lift him into the air.

He could hear the thing bellow, in his own language, as well as another strange tongue, "YOU LITTLE SON OF A FEMALE DOG! I SHALL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THAT INJUSTICE, PERSON BORN OUT OF WEDLOCK!"

He was grabbed, then hung by his arms, dropping his bow and his spear. His father watched in horror as the thing brought about its large circular arm, filled with fire and bullets. It was placed close to his face.

"Wait." Mike heard Gerg say over the radio, "You managed to get him unharmed? Don't kill him yet!"

"Damn, it, boy, this is a secure channel!" Tark said, "Who gave you the encryption codes?"

"Pss, please, this thing's strait from the Stone Age. Why are we even encrypting signals from an enemy who can't listen to them?"

"Maggot, underestimation is what cost junior here his father, don't go insulting him!" Tark said.

"Gerg, you give me one good reason not to fill this son of a bitch with lead right now."

"He got passed your motion detector, that means that there's a flaw in it somewhere."

"Hm, the geek's got a point, Quaritch." Tark said, "Bring the specimen back to base immediately. That's an order. Hustle!"

"One problem, sir." Mike said, "I can't use my hand-cams while holding the basterd. I'm opening my cockpit."

"HAVE YOU LEARNED ANYTHING, PRIVET!" Tark said, "Every moment you're in the open, you're exposed to a planet that wants your filthy hide as a doormat! Do not do it! Captain Wortan, give Privet Mike you're helmet feed and escort him to the base."

"No can do, sir, gotta stay here in case they regroup. This comes down from the top."

"What, all five of them?" Tark was furious.

"I've got orders from the Prime Minister not to move from this spot. Something about not 'underestimating the natives.'"

"Damn it. Alright, privet, pop the hatch. Just don't come crying to me when one of those mothers snipes your exposed gut." Tark said.

"With pleasure, sir." Mike put on his mask, drained the air into its containment tanks, and let the fresh Pandoran air into his cockpit. He got the first good look at his catch. He looked young for the species, but he was already about the same height as the towering eighteen year old.

He was still struggling at the iron grip of Mike's mech's two crane-like hands. He stopped momentarily to get a good look at Mike. His eyes were filled with perplextion as to the nature of the small creature riding the larger one. Mike gestured towards his shaved head, showing that he wasn't connected to it through a queue. This only caused the frightened warrior to struggle again.


	5. Chapter 5 Progress

Chapter 5

Progress

Pti'tun looked around the small, box like cave he had been imprisoned in. Light seemed to be glowing from tubes in the ceiling. Everything was white, even the strange stone Pti'tun knew was grey everywhere else.

Near one corner, there was a wall that moved to let the sky people inside, but wouldn't move when he tried to push it in with all his strength. Across from the moving wall, a raised platform held a raised, soft platform with large pieces of cloth on top of it. He wasn't sure what they were for, as the temperature was always cold and dry.

In the corner opposite to the soft platform, there was a bowl with what appeared to be a small stream that came out of a piece of stone whenever he tried turning one of the knobs next to it. Beneath it, there was another bowl, filled with water. It made a whirl pool whenever Pti'tun tried pressing the leaver next to it.

As he stood transfixed by the whirlpool, he heard the hiss that meant that the wall was opening. It swung to one side, revealing the man from before, only he was followed by another person in a white lab coat, a mark of the Jarhead Clan that his father came from.

The one from before was holding what looked like two attached black tubes in his hands, and although he was slightly shorter than the young Na'vi, he strode in with a confidant and intimidating swagger.

"What are you called?" The Jarhead asked. His skin was not like the other one, darker and smoother, although Pti'tun wasn't sure why.

Pti'tun got down on his knees. "Brother, I am Pti'tun. I come from a clan to the west. My father spoke of the mysterious and great Jarhead clan many years ago, but they are still remembered in the hearts of our people. Are you one of them?"

The Jarhead looked confused, and spoke in the same mysterious tongue as before to his friend, the Monster. "What the hell is a Jarhead?" He asked.

The Monster shook his head. "Is he insulting you? I can put a round in his leg…" He pulled back on a piece of his tube, making it emit a sound that sent shivers down Pti'tun's spine.

The Jarhead shook his head, saying in his strange language, "No, we need him as he is." He switched to a language that Pti'tun could understand, "How did you shoot at my friend here's battle suit?"

"I'm not sure I know what you mean. The Monsters seemed not to notice me."

"Yeah, you just keep calling us that." The Monster said. His accent was strange, his words were slow and thought out. He seemed to like being feared by the young Na'vi.

"Try not to be so hard on him." The Jarhead said in Pti'tun's language, "We just want to know how you hurt my friend here."

Pti'tun felt a rush of pride upon hearing that. "So I did hurt the thing then! I was unsure, as the rider seemed fine. How is it you can ride without a queue?" He asked the bald one.

"With your mother." He replied.

"I do not see how that is possible." A confused Pti'tun replied.

"That was a joke." The Jarhead clarified, "My name is Gerg, and this is my comrade, Mike."

"Ah, good to know." Pti'tun replied.

"If you don't mind, we'd like to find out how you got past my friend's shield. It's a really confusing matter that we would like to figure out."

"I just asked for my shot to hit, and Eywa gave me my wish."

"Yeah, that's not good enough." Mike said, "What were your actions leading up to that point?"

"I simply asked for Eywa to guide me. I was fortunate enough to gain her favor, if only temporarily. I owe my success to her."

Gerg, the Jarhead, seemed to pause at this. "Uh-huh. Well. We're just going to go get our equipment. We'll be back for you shortly. Also, stop flushing the toilet. We're not exactly swimming in water yet."

"Toi-let?" Pti'tun asked.

"Oh for the love of god!" Mike went out, and came back with a large folded mat of grey leaves. "We saved this stuff for house training the dogs in cryo-sleep, but I think that you'll make better use of them." He unfolded them and laid them out in the unoccupied corner, "Do your business there." He pointed, before adding, "And no peeing in the bed. We just got it cleaned from the person who stayed here before.

"Hey, Mutie gets nightmares too!" Gerg said in English as the two exited the cell.

Pti'tun awoke after sleeping on the floor next to the raised padded platform. The lights hadn't gone out, even though he had gotten so groggy from sitting around that he had to sleep. The two Sky People hadn't returned for what seemed to Pti'tun to be ages. He had tried to ask Eywa what he should do, but he couldn't think of any real answers he should have received.

The wall slid open. The bigger one, Mike, pushed the head of a stone Monster into the room. Pti'tun was surprised they killed one. This test must mean much to them. The Jarhead walked into the room holding a flexible tube.

"Here, pretend this is the bow you used." He instructed.

Pti'tun took the thing. "It would make a terrible bow if I were to use it."

"It's a good thing then that we only want you to go through the motions." Mike said, "Also, a word to the wise; try anything with that, and you'll get two new holes in your gut." He was brandishing the same tube as before.

"I wouldn't dream of it." The native said.

The Jarhead went over to the severed head, and pressed a few buttons on the underside of it. It hissed, and opened. Pti'tun quickly hid behind the raised platform.

"Don't be afraid, this is only the head, it cannot attack you." Gerg said reassuringly, "Pretend it is a threat, though, and do the same thing you did as before."

Pti'tun nodded, and got lower to the ground. He remembered his mother's help, slowing his movements. The monster's eye was the same dull inattentiveness like before. He pulled back the string attached to his bow. The Jarhead was holding a small tablet in his hands, and seemed to be confused by the actions.

Mike looked over at him. "Well?" He asked, disrupting the Na'vi's concentration. He stumbled, instantly being picked up by both the eye and the sensors.

"I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't just seen it." Gerg said in English, "He got through."

"How?" Mike demanded.

"I'll have to run a few tests, but I think I know the cause. The refresh rate on the motion sensor was turned down to save computing power, so slow movements don't register."

"Can you fix it?" Mike asked.

"This a simple software upgrade. No biggie. We don't even need to bring any of the mechs in."

"Did I pass?" Pti'tun asked.

Mike patted him on the shoulder roughly. "You sure did, little buddy," He said in the young alien's language, "And it wasn't because your tree god wanted it to happen." He brought his tube near the young Na'vi's head.

"We will be doing some other tests," The Jarhead said. Mike lowered his tube, a look of confusion on his face. "But for now, you may rest. I was not sure if you can read or not, so I brought you this," He handed him a small tablet, "We had an extra lying around. It's full of translator programs and language learning courses."

"Thank you." Pti'tun said gratefully, "This is a truly wonderful gift. I will learn your language in my spare time. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Let's go, Mike." He lead the disgruntled Marine out.

Outside the door, Mike was fuming. He ripped off his gasmask after stepping out of the airlock. "Why didn't you let me kill him?" He asked, "That… thing in there is putting the whole base, hell, all of Humanity, at risk. Just so you could make a new friend?"

"There's something off here." Gerg said, "You heard him. He thinks that his god's guiding him. Think about the data we got just before we lost this place. There's a vast planetary intelligence here. All the animals and plants are symbiotic and can connect to each other. That shit doesn't just evolve, man."

"So, what are you saying?"

"This is just a crazy idea, but, humor me, what if, like Avatars, these things could communicate via a simple wireless network?"

"I thought that Avatars needed a genetic identical to function." Mike scratched his head. This was getting too highbrow for him.

"It's possible. Like I said, this is just some crackpot theory I'm working on. You know. For science."

"Ohhhh. Science. Okay, then." Mike replied. He wasn't sure, but when people talked about doing stuff for "science," that meant dissections. That was all he could recall of his high school science class, when they had opened up a dead hobo.

"Get that THX back to the workshop, pronto." Gerg ordered, "You can reattach one of those, right?"

Mike rapped on the dome with his hard fist. "I got it off, didn't I?"

Gerg turned to go. "Yeah, and it looked more like a decapitation than a simple removal."

"What? I know what my machine can handle. Just focus on getting me that camera. Tark says I'm on cargo duty until I get a new one."

"Oh, that's a shame," Gerg said as he walked away, "The Space Marine's grounded until his nerd can fix him. It's totally number 1 on my priority list."

"Cheeky bastard." Mike muttered as he wheeled the THX head back to the hanger.

Inside the Hell's Gate hanger floor, it looked more like a huge open garage than a flight deck. Since it was the largest room on the base, the technical officers had it pressurized and turned into a workshop for the battle mechs and power suits. Cords and wires were strung all across the concrete floor. The high vaulted ceilings let THX suits stand completely upright as they were gutted and sewn back together. Partial mechs laid on the floor exposed as their owners sought out the necessary parts to fix them.

Mike wheeled his borrowed head back to Wortan's decapitated mech. Next to his station were the rest of his team's suits. Wortan was leaning against his suit's leg, reading a small handbook.

"Well, well, well. Are you done playing with that… thing yet?" He asked, standing up.

"Look, man, I'm just following orders. You think I'm okay with this?" Mike said, pushing the cart to one side.

"Well, I'm just sorry that we can't put him out of his misery yet. Every second he's still alive, everything we've worked for is in danger."

"Tell me about it. Gerg thinks that his species is being controlled by their tree god."

"Now listen here," Wortan walked up to Mike and pushed his finger into his chest, "I don't trust that guy. He's hiding something. You didn't see it, but I killed the Traitors we found here. They had the same look in their eyes he does." He stared at Mike, "You start seeing him hanging out with that barely evolved simian, you come talk to me, ya hear?"

"Heh, yes sir." Mike said, "Now, let's get your head on strait this time."

"What makes you think it wasn't last time?" Wortan asked, lightening the mood.

"'cause you were shooting at only the blue natives, that's why!"

Wortan laughed, "Hehheheh, now who's the screwed up one?"

"Alright, Mike, get ready, the shuttle's about to land." The radio in Mike's suit ordered.

Mike sighed. "I copy, Rich. I've been ready for the last ten minutes."

He looked over at the control tower through the see though plastic that had been duct taped over his open cockpit. The airlock doors that opened sideways on his mech had been stripped off for more maneuverability.

"Cut the attitude, Mike. You think I want another power lifter to manage out here? Especially one with anger management issues and a minigun."

"I've been doing this for the last week, I know when to be ready." Mike said. He watched as the clouds over the base parted as a large cargo craft fell from orbit.

"Care packages from home." Rich said, "I'm looking at the manifest, and it appears that you're in luck, Mike."

Mike's eyes lit up. "Are you serious?"

"Yep, we've got some spare THX parts in here, listed as delicate. Don't go slamming it like the last package you handled. Go ahead and install it, kid, I hereby relieve you of shipment duty, I'd say it's been an honor, but I think that you crushing the last Twinkies in the universe has kind of made this a celebration."

"Yes, sir!" Mike happily chimed.

He ran up to the landing shuttle doors, which opened downward, revealing boxes piled to the ceiling inside the wide and tall ship. Mike extended his two arms, which bent inside the openings of the box stacks, before taking a large scoop of them onto the rollers waiting on the ground. He pushed the cart, which had wheels and was usually automated, except for delicate instruments.

After briefly scanning over the packages, Mike found what he was looking for near the top of the pile. A small metal container with a barcode that read, "opticals". He took it in his two thin metal arms and brought it towards the hanger.

Once his mech had cleared the enlarged airlock, he stepped over to his station. The two halves of the airlock were hanging off of cables to one side. He had his THX kneel inside the walled off square, and descended down the ladder attached to the side.

Mike took the crisp, clean box out of the steel crate. Inside the package, wrapped in Styrofoam peanuts was the red camera. It was the size and weight of a small child, and he lifted it carefully as he ascended the staircase next to the plastic barrier between him and the other stations. As he screwed it into place, Mike looked out the glass of the airlock to the outside.

The shuttle was having a large metal crate being carefully unloaded by two THX's. They rolled it over to the edge of Mike's vision. The two mechs opened the crate outside, removing the metal plates one by one.

Inside, there was what appeared to be a glass engine, with two large metal tubes pointing upwards, towards the sky. Three engineers rushed over to the scene, using their tech pads to activate it. A bright light ignited from deep inside the complex device. It appeared as if it was trying to fly, sending air upwards at its two ports.

He could see Gerg walking towards him. "Hey, Gerg!" Mike shouted, descending the stairs, "What the heck are they doing?"

"It's an atmosphere terraformer. It's making the air around us breathable." Gerg explained, "It works by-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Quantum Mechanics, all that good shit. So, we can take our masks off?"

"Not yet. A planet like Pandora is going to take years to completely change, but the immediate effects are more apparent. Pandoran wildlife can't breath our air."

"Heh, looks like the glove'll be on the other hand then." Mike said.

"Yes, but I'm worried. The test I've been doing on our native friend have shown some startling things. Follow me." He motioned.

"Can it wait? I'm about to put my doors back on." Mike motioned to his mech, whose airlock doors still hung on one side.

"No, I need you to back me up."

"Oh, finally." Mike pulled the shotgun that was sitting on the desk of his work area, "I thought you would never let me put down that little basterd. Let me get my camera." He started looking through his cluttered drawers.

"I'm not asking you for that." Gerg said, scratching his head, "I want to show you something. It's for Science."

"Oh, science." Mike said, "Does it have to involve me?"

"If you want, I could get Mutie…"

"I love science!" Mike said.

"Bring the gun." Gerg instructed.

"Alright Pti'tun," Gerg said through the one way mirror into the interrogation room, "Put on the helmet, like I showed you."

The young Na'vi complied. Mike stood at the other end of the room, trying to look menacing to the already growing behemoth. Through his mask of anger and contempt, though, Gerg could see confusion.

"It is attached." Pti'tun said in English. The statement made Mike jump.

"You taught the looser English?" He asked, "Why?"

"It's harder for experiments to be accurate if there's a language barrier. Now, show him the gun."

"… Alright…" Mike reluctantly put his shotgun on the table next to Pti'tun.

Gerg read the number coming off his pad. He turned on his radio again. "Okay, Pti'tun, pick up the gun."

Instantly, the readings went into the red. Pti'tun tried moving towards the shotgun, much to Mike's dismay, but was being repelled by some sort of force. Gerg watched the numbers climb as he tried moving closer to it. Mike was getting more confused by the second.

Finally, Pti'tun slumped against a wall on the far side of the room. "I cannot." He panted, "It is forbidden. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. You did good." Gerg said, "Mike, pick up your gun, we won't be needing it for the rest of today."

As he stepped out of the airlock, Mike patted Gerg on the back. "It sure did look like he was hurting. Good job. I don't know why he wouldn't go for it the moment I put it down, though."

"He's been conditioned." Gerg said, "I've seen it happen through his brainwaves while we talked. There are some things he can't think about. Him being repelled by that gun was really him trying to think of grabbing it, and failing."

"Is that proof that their tree god is controlling them?" Mike asked.

"It most certainly is. A fear of guns, even when exposed to them repeatedly, is not a biological characteristic. His mind's been warped to not even think of touching one of them."

Tal came up to the two. "Gerg, ya'll got a call waitn' for ya in the briefer." He looked at Mike, "Hey, stretch, ain't seen you 'round, man. How've ya been?"

"Lifting crates might have given me carpal tunnel, but other than that, I'm dandy." Mike said, watching Gerg nervously walk towards the briefing room. "What's his call all about?"

"Something about a 'new, secret mission.'" He added extra emphasis on the "secret" part, "Just sounds like more work, in my humble opinion. I've gotta git back to patrollin'. We gotta get a drink sometime. On me."

"I'll take you up on that yet." Mike said, "Whelp, I'm off to go get back to fixing my THX. See ya round, space cowboy!"

"Hey!" Tal said, his features easing up, "See ya'll later."

Jake Sully calmed his Direhorse as he climbed on it. It seemed to know where he was going, and was trying to get him off. Neytiri ran up to stop him as he was fitting his bow.

"Don't do it, Jake, they won't listen!" She said for the last time.

"I've set up everything if they don't." Jake said, motioning to the tribes camping out around him, "And I have to try. You know my past. I saw things their way once. But never again."

"You know their ways are set." Neytiri warned.

"I have to try. They are very powerful, and a battle would not be good for either of us."

Neytiri sighed, and gave Jake her father's bow. "Let it fly strait." She said, "We will see each other again, on this side,"

"Or the other." Jake finished for her, before kicking his Direhorse off, towards the land of the Sky People.

Tal slacked on the backboard behind his machinegun emplacement. He stirred from the daydream he was having about horses when he noticed movement coming from the trees, which were now far away from the base, across a lake of concrete barriers.

"Wortan, I've got movement." He said over the radio, looking through the scope on his minigun. He could see a blue person exiting the leafy vegetation.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here, boys?" Wortan asked, "I don't see anything on my heat map, how about you command?"

"Negative, sergeant. You've got yourself a bogy." Tark said, looking at a satellite map of the area.

"No automatic fire, guys." Tal said, "Let's see what he wants."

"Hold on." Tark said, "Texan, get a good look at his face for me."

Tal complied, and almost couldn't believe it himself. "Commander, are ya'll seeing what I'm seeing?"

"I sure am, privet. You are not to open fire, repeat, we want him alive," He up from his desk, "Get a jump jet and a squad ready, I want to talk to him personally."

Jake looked over at the destroyed scar of forest that was engraved on the ground. Although they were smaller than before, he could still clearly see the iron guards in the distance. Two of them seemed to be running towards him. They weren't shooting at him yet, though.

"Well, that's a start." Jake said, "This is going well."

As the distant figures approached, he could also hear a faint roar in the distance. It sounded like the old jets that had been used in Nigeria for air strikes. Just hearing them made Jake uneasy again.

He watched as a small glint on the horizon sped towards him, growing into a shape he had never seen before. It's front was long, thin, and flat, like a razor. It's wings were curved, and it's underside was carrying a metal box that had been streamlined along its sides.

As it turned, its massive engines on the wings tipped upright, stopping it in front of him and slowly resting on it's landing gear. A door opened on the pod, and soldiers wearing exoskeletons leapt out, surrounding Jake with their large guns, all pointed at him. They had military camo on, and face obscuring gas masks on their faces. The steel battle mechs had also gotten up to him, and were pointing their miniguns at him.

An old man slowly stepped out of the darkness of the pod. He didn't have an exoskeleton suit, and his gas mask was clear and minimal. He had a black barrette on his wrinkled head. Jake had never seen a Na'vi so old, let alone a human before.

He extended a wrinkled hand to him. Jake cautiously moved towards him, the guns and stares of the small crowd following him. He extended his blue hand. The commander smiled, taking it.

In a rush, Jake was on the ground. Through a flurry of movement, the brittle old man had taken down the larger and younger adversary. Jake could feel pain in his shoulder and face after hitting the concrete. He felt a steel revolver pressed against his head.

"Hello, Jake Sully," Tark said, "My name is Commander Tark. I'm sure we're going to be the best of friends." He bashed his Colt against the traitor's head, knocking him out.

When Jake awoke, he could feel his queue hanging above him. His wrists and ankles, and even his tail, were bound in chains. He hung, outstretched, in a dark room. As he looked around, a bright light shined on him.

"About time sleeping beauty woke up." Tark said, "Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot last time. My takedown was wholly unnecessary. I am terribly sorry about your current predicament, but you can understand that we can't have you reacting illogically."

Jake looked at the smiling officer suspiciously. "Alright, so if this is just a big misunderstanding, then why can't you let me go?"

"I'm afraid that I'm going to have to have someone special explain the situation to you, since you've been out of the loop ever since you went native."

A young man stepped into the light. Squinting, Jake was confused at the resemblance.

"Hello, Jake." He said, "Remember me?"

"You look familiar. Who are you?" Jake asked.

"Let me give you a hint." The smiling boy said. He held up three fingers to his left forehead.

"Quaritch?" He gasped.

"I'M HIS SON, YOU BASTARD!" He yelled.

Jake's mouth hung wide open. Mike was furious that his father's killer was so forgetful of him. Tark walked calmly over to Mike, who was still fuming and leering at Jake, being restrained only by his will.

The old man put a hand on the young man's shoulder, saying, "You see what your treachery has caused, Jake? This is only one son whose father never returned to him."

Jake shook his head, which nearly ripped his queue out of his head. "I had to, there were children on my side too. They were peaceful, and you started a war for no reason."

"Earth is dead!" Mike said, "We needed that Unobtainium! We could have lived there now! But instead, it's a stinking nuclear wasteland. Everyone is dead, Jake, Humanity has only got a million people left!"

"That's why we're here, Jake." Tark said, pacing in and out of his captive's restricted vision., "We're here to stay. I would have rather stayed at home, but they needed the best, and, well, I'm honestly surprised you don't remember my use of power lifters during the landing at Nigeria. In any case, we're clearly not here to discuss ancient history, are we, soldier?"

"Where is my son?" Jake asked, resisting the taunts of the alien.

"He is in our hands. You wouldn't believe the things he's taught us." Tark paused, chuckling to himself, "You've really made a deal with the devil, you know that?" He asked.

"I'm with Eywa now. You can't turn me." Jake said, smiling, "Give me my son, and release us."

Tark smirked back, "Or what?"

"All the clans on the entire continent will descend upon you." Jake said. He had planned for this.

Tark's smirk didn't waver. "You mean the army that's been amassing on our heat sensors for the past two weeks? Yes, we are aware of them. I'm afraid that you've just about sentenced them to death because of your actions." He said almost sadly, "You won't call them off if we give you your freedom. I'm afraid we're two steps ahead of you and your 'god'."

Jake raised an eyebrow, "Oh, so now you do believe that my mother is real? What happened to all that anti-superstition you had?"

"Some interesting scientific research done here, during our occupation of your territory, has led us to some _startling conclusions_."

Jake sighed. "What has your science told you now?"

"Your 'god' is controlling you and your people. It's been doing so for who knows how long. I know it must seem strange to you, but it is true."

Jake frowned. "You would dare call my mother such a whore? I know your tricks, human. They won't work on me. My mother has my people's best interests in mind. I can't believe that you would say that she would stoop so low as to control her people like puppets." He was growing worried. He started to feel as if his body was different than it did before, almost as if it wasn't his own.

"Heh, don't make me laugh kid, it's bad for my health. If you really think you're 'god' is benevolent, then tell me, what's the scientific method?"

Jake's forehead began to sweat. "The what?"

"Science, my boy, how does it work? Why is it so hard? Every highschooler knows it."

"At least the ones that are left." Mike muttered at Jake.

Jake tried asking Eywa for help with the question, but he only drew a blank. Personally, he couldn't remember anything about something called a "highschool."

"Perhaps that's a little too highbrow for a strapping young savage like yourself." Tark taunted, "What we need is a question only a trained killer like yourself would know. Ah, yes, Privet Mike, hand Jake your pistol."

"With pleasure, sir." Mike said, drawing his 9mm handgun from its holster. He moved to place it firmly in the warrior's hand, while he struggled against the chains that bound him.

As the cold metal of the weapon touched his flesh, Jake began to push violently against his restraints, almost ripping his queue out of his skull. His wrists began to bleed inside the tight cuffs.

"What's wrong, _soldier_?" Tark asked, "Never had a gun in your hand before? Afraid it's rigged to explode? Is it too hot for your sensitive space elf hands?" He waited, watching Jake squirm in his restraints for what seemed like hours, before saying, "Thank you, Privet." Mike lowed his gun, and put it back into its holster.

Jake stopped struggling, panting with exhaustion. His head was on fire, and his whole body felt like it had been chewed up and spit out. He shuttered from the pain that wrapped him.

Tark smiled. "I think we're done here, you traitor." He and the young privet exited the room, leaving the defeated native alone with his thoughts.


	6. Chapter 6 God Killers

Chapter 7

God Killers

Tark smugly entered the dark room. Jake hung right where he had left him the day before. He carried a projector in one hand. As he entered the room, the glare from the outside light hit the native in the face. He winced at the light.

"Morning, neighbor," Tark said, "Brought you a couple of presents."

Jake glared at the smiling old man. He was still wary of any tricks. "What are they?" He said hoarsely.

"Now, is that any way to treat a neighbor? I just thought you'd like to see the show. And, look," He pointed towards the door. It opened, and through the blinding light, Jake could see Mike leading in a tall humanoid creature, "I even brought you a friend."

"Pti'tun?" Jake said.

His son looked up at him. "Father?" He asked, "What have they done to you?"

Jake looked at the ground as far as his restraints would let him, "They have tortured me, but fear not, my will is strong."

"I will get them to let you down." His son said in Na'vi, before turning to Tark and saying in English, "Please, he has done no harm, can't you release him?"

"NO!" Jake shouted, "Pti'tun, that language is forbidden!"

His son looked at the ground, "Father, I didn't know…"

"That is the language of the enemy, and is cursed!" He said.

"I only did it to help them learn…"

"Don't you see, they're about to do battle with us, and you gave them secrets?"

"Nothing like that, father. Please, they wished to learn about Eywa. I thought it would please her."

A vile shiver when up Jake's spine. "No. It did no such thing."

"Isn't this just a fun little family reunion?" Mike sarcastically commented, "I sure wish I could do this with my dad, oh, wait, _you killed him_."

"Cut the chatter, privet." Tark ordered, placing the projector on the floor, "And hook up our guest, like his father."

"Sorry about this, kid." Mike said, strapping Pti'tun loosely into a set of chains next to his father.

"What did my father do to yours?" Pti'tun asked.

"He killed mine. My father was a great leader, but because of your father's betrayal, mine died from his lover. I assume that would be your mother, but I don't know much about this backwater world's marriage stance."

"I did not know." Pti'tun turned to his father, "Why?"

"He nearly killed me, and your mother. He was a bad man, and he got what he deserved." Jake explained.

"He was looking out for Humanity, just like you were supposed to!" Mike yelled.

"Privet!" Tark barked, "This is getting tiring, even to me. Get out there and suit up. We've got a little show to put on for our guests."

"Don't underestimate us." Jake said, "We are stronger than you can ever be. When you kill us, we become one with Eywa. We fear no death."

"_Oh, shut up_." Tark said, "Your bitch will get what's coming to her soon enough."

Neytiri signaled the warriors to sound their horns. The various birds of pray had already taken to the skies, alongside the soldiers of Eywa, who outnumbered the actual Na'vi three to one. The horns to signal the attack blew loud, and the cavalry charged towards Hell's Gate.

As she rode her own Direhorse, Neytiri could only wonder what tortures her husband was suffering through as she went to save him. A large hammerhead ran alongside her, only it did not have a rider on it.

Mike ran through the airlock and out of the hanger. He passed the gate, out of the compound. Wortan was waiting for him, having his mech lean against the concrete trench.

"Good to see you join the fight, soldier." He said.

"What? You think that I'd baby sit the brat and miss the fireworks?" He waved his steel hand in front of his dome's camera, "By the way, you're on TV right now. Smile for the natives!"

"Hi, mom." Wortan snickered, "You're about to see some wild shit."

"Alright," Tark said, "You boys quit your lollygagging. We've got some work to do. Get in position!"

"Sir!" One of the engineers said over another line, "They're on the move, sir!"

Tark smiled. He looked at Jake. The traitor was confused at his joy. "Tell me," He said, "What do you think the casualty rate will be? I'm afraid it's going to be awfully high." He chuckled to himself.

"You may strike down as many of us with your guns as you like," Jake said, "Ten more will replace them."

"I'm afraid you don't have the reserves to back that up." Tark said, putting a finger on the talk button on his radio, "Command, it's time."

"Already?" A voice on the radio said, "Shit, I had a hot pocket in the microwave. Whelp, duty calls."

"Do you know who that was, Jake?" Tark asked.

"Who?"

"The man who is about to kill your army."

As Neytiri rode towards the base, she wondered what tricks the Sky People had in store for them. Not once had they been like before, sending Dream Walkers into the forest for study. In fact, she hadn't seen a Sky Person since they had left. As she reached the clearing, she could only wonder. _What were they doing?_

Thousands of miles above Pandora, Henry Blarginhimer waddled from the staff room as fast as he could towards the frontal command unit. As he pulled himself forward through the square padded corridors of the ship's halls, he passed by members of the Parliament who were on their break. He paid little attention to the politicians, he had a job to do.

He slid his keycard through its slot, waited for the metal door to slide down, and floated over to his station. He put on his work headset and plugged his password into the terminal in front of him.

"Hello, and welcome to Orbital Fire R Us, may we take your order?" He said cheerfully into the mouthpiece.

Back on the ground, Wortan chuckled at the joke. "Um, hi, I'm going to need a large order of hellfire, now." He said. He watched the red dots on his minimap close in on the base.

"Yeah, I can see you need one. One orbital strike, coming up." He punched in the coordinates and looked out of the windows around him. The various ships all pointed their launchers towards the targets, "It'll be there in thirty minutes or less or it's free." The ships let loose their baggage of shots, which quickly fell past his view, down into the thick atmosphere of the planet.

"Excellent!" Wortan shouted, "Heavies, get your AA guns going, no need to wait for us."

"Ya'll got it!" Tal said, pulling the bolt on his modified minigun back, "They'll be down before they get within spittn' distance."

He pulled the two triggers on his machinegun and felt the blowback from his high-caliber shells push the gun against it's mounted platform. The tracer rounds flew towards the flying soldiers, who moved out of the cone of fire.

"Not today." Tal said menacingly.

As the shells reached the flyers, they exploded, sending a burst of shrapnel into the clustered pilots. Fliers fell left and right from the shockwaves and bits of metal. Huge balls of reptiles fell from the sky.

Neytiri looked up, and saw her fellow pilots fall left and right as the Sky People started to shoot at them. Her group had reached the clearing, which had been filled with strange white stones. She heard a whistling sound, and looked up. She saw white streaks pass from the blue sky, towards her.

Mike watched from his camera as the natives stopped just at the clearing, the perfect spot for the orbital bombardment. The white clouds of the shells fell just behind them, before a bright light flashed. It interfered with Mike's camera feed for a second before it adjusted to the light. When it did, he watched as the shockwave threw massive chunks of ground upwards, sending entire clans of natives into the sky.

Mushroom clouds from the non-nuclear explosions rose out of the ground, sucking the air and pulling many warriors into the fires that had grown around the clearing. Mike yelled a war cry and charged out of the trench, leading the charge against the enemy survivors.

He fired his minigun at the crawling savages, who had been blinded by the light of the explosion. Some of them had died on their horses, and were being dragged along the ground by their still clutching queue.

Through the smoke, Neytiri crawled out from under her dead horse. She coughed and couldn't feel her legs. Fires were blazing all around her. She could see her people burning, paralyzed and unable to move from the explosion. Their limp bodies sizzled in the heat of the fire.  
All of a sudden, a figure appeared through the flames. It had an eye that made the fire seem black in comparison. It walked almost calmly over to her, and put it's large gun against her head.

A voice suddenly came out of it, as cold and horrible as the soul inside, "SMILE, LITTLE NA'VI, YOU'RE ON TV. WOULD YOU LIKE TO SAY A FEW WORDS?"

Neytiri began to cry. As horrible a thing as it was, it had won. Through whatever trickery and evil the Sky People had done, it had worked. She looked long and hard into the deep and soulless eye that was looking through her.

"Eywa cannot help you now, monster," She said slowly, before raising her voice, "YOU HAVE TURNED AWAY FROM HER LIGHT. YOU SHALL FACE AN ETERNITY OF DARKNESS!"

"I'LL TAKE MY CHANCES." Mike said through his speakers.

He looked at the woman he knew was Jake's wife one last time, then pulled the trigger on his controller. A single bullet flew through her head, sending a stream of blood onto the dirt beside her. Her limp body slumped onto a concrete pillar, where it rested, not moving again. Mike zoomed into her vacant eyes for his viewers, before continuing with his cleanup.

Jake couldn't look away. The lifeless eyes of his wife stared back at him through the feed. Commander Tark paused the feed on the close up. He still wore the same smile as before, although in the lights of the simulated flames, his old face almost seemed like a skull in the darkness. He crept towards Jake, laughing slowly.

"I'm glad you got to see that, Sully." He uttered, "I know you're the only native on this rock who can appreciate our capabilities." He was pulling a gun out of his holster.

Jake was speechless. Next to him, his son was crying. His sniffles filled the empty chamber. Beside Tark, the projection wavered, and turned off. In the darkness, Jake felt as if he were alone.

A ghostly figure approached him. It seemed to be made of only clouds, with nothing but two blue eyes staring into him. It went close to his face. Jake was suddenly overcome with sadness.

"I am sorry." He said to the figure.

It's cold blue eyes looked deep at him. It had an air of disappointment. It moved a transparent hand over his face. "I see you, Jake Sully."

"And I see you, Eywa." Jake heard himself say.

The figure retracted her hand. "And I reject you." She said.

Jake's body went wild in the restraints. Tark pulled the trigger. The shot echoed in the empty room. Tark saw Jake's face contort in pain. He was still flailing when Tark shot him again. This time, he went limp. Tark then turned his attention on the man's child.

Pti'tun was still sniffling. Tark faced him, staring at him through the slits in his wrinkled eyes. The young Na'vi knew what was coming.

"Tell me something, son." Tark said softly, "Do you fear the coming darkness?"

"I shall be with Eywa soon." Pti'tun said, stopping his tears and looking the commander in the eye, "I do not fear the end any longer."

Tark sighed, "We're a stubborn people, don't take it personally, it's just us, or you." He pointed his gun at the young boy's head, "And I like living." He pulled the trigger.

Again, the shot lingered after the native went limp, filling the room with its mournful wail. Tark stepped out mournfully. The steel door closed behind him. He straitened up, and let the cleanup teams in to do their job. Outside, the speakers began to show the casualty statistics. A million enemy lives, zero allied casualties. There were various cheers throughout the base.

Tark let his eyes adjust to the light after being inside the dark chamber for so long. The light filtered through the smoke, highlighting his twisted, frowning face.

Mike downed another drink in the cafeteria's bar. He let the poison fill him with warmth and dull the memories he had just seen. The mess hall had remained the only part of the base to not undergo any retrofitting. It still had its segmented windows and steel chairs and tables. Celebrating pilots and soldiers surrounded him, their cheers filling the hall with happiness and good spirits.

Abruptly, the cheers ceased. A sound filled the eerily quiet room. Mike looked over his shoulder. Commander Tark was walking slowly, a cane in his hand. Several of the marines took off their barrettes at the sight of their aged commander.

"As you were." He said quietly.

The celebrating resumed, albeit quieter and more formal. Mike continued to down his liquor. His head was swirling, but he noticed the old man sitting next to him. The bartender asked him if he wanted a drink. Tark shook his head, turning to Mike.

"Not as easy as you thought, huh?" He asked, his voice audible, yet quieter than the background cheers and jeers.

"I got my revenge." Mike said, coldly, "I saw the bitch that did my father in. No fear. I had looked into her eyes, and there was no fear." He turned away from his drink, "Six years, and I can't even look into my opponent's eyes, and say, 'I won.' She was sad _for me_."

"Their god's one son of a bitch, alright." Tark said, looking at Mike's drink enviously, "The traitor's kid wasn't scared either. A runt, no older than you, and he didn't fight it at all. Nobody should have no fear of death."

"It's the one part of the adventure we'll never know about." Mike said, sliding his drink over to his commander.

The bartender gave Mike another glass. The brown liquid simmered inside of it. Tark raised his cup. "To victory." He said.

Mike raised his, "To uncertainty."

"Amen to that." Tark slammed his drink down in one gulp, "You know, I never had a son before."

"I never really had a dad either." Mike said.

"Just promise me this, Quaritch." Tark was serious, "Whatever happens, don't forget your humanity. We're better than these savages because we care, and that's what matters."

Tal came up to the two. "Hey, Mikey, we need ya'll in the briefer. Come on, you're not even tipsy yet. Heh, you should see me drink."

He pulled Mike away from the bar. Outside, he let him stand on his own. "Where are we going?" He asked.

"We've got a new, secret mission." Tal explained.

"So secret you can't tell your old buddy Mike?"

Tal snickered, "We're taking the fight to the enemy."

"What?" Mike stumbled. He was more than tipsy. "I thought that there was no enemy left. Just women and children who can't fight."

"Think of the bigger picture, man." Tal said, "Now, I ain't saying that I'm the best person to explain this here. C'mon, we're late already. Didn't you get pinged on this when you went in?"

"I had something else on my mind." Mike explained.

Mr. Citad stared at the Marines being assembled. He knew he didn't have time or resources to be picky, but he felt as if he was getting the leftovers after the fight. The engineer was looking over the overview of what he was going to attempt. He was shaking his head silently. A silent man was sitting in a corner of the room. He was looking intently at the former President. The Texan brought Mike into the room.

"Ah, Mike, it's good to see you again. How's the good fight?" Harvey asked.

"Won, last time I checked." The pilot responded.

"Unfortunately, that's not the case. I'm not sure where to begin, but this much is clear; we won the battle, not the war."

Mike raised his hands in confusion. "I kind of figured that we won when we blew up all their soldiers in a few seconds."

"Hm, yes, that was only the short term, though. The warriors all left behind sons. A new army will rise to challenge us again, and they might not be as forgiving as this one was. We're facing a future threat."

Mike plopped down in one of the padded chairs. "So, what now, you want us to kill children?"

The Prime Minister shook his head. "No, that is only scratching the surface of the problem. The Na'vi problem is but the tip of the iceberg."

"What's an iceberg?" Tal asked.

Harvey sighed heavily. "Listen, their neural network is the source of the problem. We have more than just a hypothesis that it's controlling them somehow."

Tal scratched his head under his hat. "How's somethin' like that evolve, anyways?"  
"We've been developing theories," Gerg explained, "The most logical one is that, in a primeval Pandora, rampant plagues and herbivores almost killed all the trees on the planet. They developed an early warning system by linking together, so that they could spread toxins throughout the air if an animal tried to eat one of their allies.

"Over time, faster herbivores evolved to combat the poisons, and, in response, the trees' network grew. Eventually, it covered the entire continent in links. We believe this is when it attained sentience. Without a physical body, it developed a kind of knockout gas, and would capture other animals to control through a direct link. Since it had millennia to figure this out, it probably learned how to specifically breed animals to be automatically subservient to its control. Then it began to forcefully evolve new creatures for some reason. That's why we've got the Na'vi."

"Wow." Mike said, phasing in and out of the speech, "It all makes sense now. So what do we do? Glass the planet?"

"Unfortunately, we still have to live here at the end of it all." Harvey said, "And I don't know about you gentlemen, but I can't stand irradiated soil. Makes my skin itch. So that leaves us only one option."

"We're going to have to plant a counter virus into the system to take out the main operator."

"I'm not sure how computer doohickeys work, but don't y'all need the same, what'sit? OS?" It was clear that Tal was struggling to keep up.

"That's my job." Gerg said, "I've got a faint idea of where the on's and off's go, but I'll need a direct link to get a computer language out of it. Assuming it even has one."

"That's nuts." Mike said, "This is a brain. Are you saying that you can program a human one too?"

"Sure, it's easy." Gerg said, "Give me a brain scanner and I'll have you doing the chicken dance in a cocktail dress by noon. Doing it during combat, while the subject is actively trying to kill you, now that's a challenge."

"Whatever, so, what? We just guard you while you hook up to one of the trees next to the base?"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple." Harvey explained, "Those trees are like singular neurons, they only connect to the ones around it. We need a direct link to the entire network."

"I see where this is going. We need to get t' one of their trippy glowing weepin' willows." Tal said.

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Harvey congratulated, "Do you accept? Mike, it's the chance you've been waiting for. This thing is the true murderer of your father. Kill it, and you'll have your revenge."

Mike stood. He looked deep into Harvey's eyes. He saluted him. "Ready whenever you are, sir!"

Harvey leaned back. "Excellent. You'll leave immediately. Be aware that this isn't going to be easy. This god's still got a few tricks left up its sleeves. It's not going down without a fight."

"Hell, it wouldn't be fun if it didn't." Tal said, grabbing the gun bag he had been carrying off the table, "I'll see ya'll in the jump jet."

Mike tried to hold his lunch down as he was airlifted towards the Tree of Souls aboard one of the two fully assembled jump jets functioning on the planet. Below him, the trees and ground passed by him at a breakneck pace, the result of the supersonic jet's speed. They glowed in the darkness of the night. He hung in his harnesses as his mech flew horizontally.

He instinctively checked his THX's systems, which all shined in the green. He was amazed that the jet could lift his entire mech at all, let alone break the sound barrier with it. Mike had his mech's dome swivel over to look at the other jet, which was caring the rest of his squad. Through the open window, he could see that Tal was on the verge of throwing up as well. Gerg and Mutie seemed to be enjoying the ride, though.

The pilot of the fighter opened a channel to Mike. "How's it going down there?"

Mike put on his headset. It fell onto the airlock door below him. Cursing to himself, he put it back on and responded, "Just concentrate on getting me down from here, if you would. I'm not in a conversing mood."

"Sure thing, just calling you up to let you know we're going to be experiencing some turbulence soon. Damned dragonflies have been picked up heading towards us. I'm going to fly around them."

Mike moaned, "How long will that take?"

"Oh, quit it, you big baby. I'll get you dropped off on schedule, don't you worry. Now hold on, this is going to get rough." He floored it, sending Mike into the bottom of his seat.

Mike had his mech look up, and saw what looked like a dark cloud. Using his suit's zoom app, though, he saw that it was actually a swarm of Banshees flying towards them. The machine guns of the sides of the wings next to him opened up in a blaze of fire, cutting a hole strait through the slow moving mass. Mike felt his harness get pushed into his chest as the jet flew upwards, letting the beasts chase him into the sky. As they climbed higher and higher, the monsters had to stop chasing, their wings beat uselessly against the airless sky.

They began to fall, and Mike's jet chased them down, gunning most of them out of the sky as the fell. Mike felt the strain of his harness as they returned to their cruising position, nearing the floating mountains.

Gerg called Mike over the radio, "Nice maneuvers, sunshine. How you holding up?"

Mike tried to clear his blurred vision, "You know, I actually prefer cryo sleep to this, and that's saying something."

"We're heading into the interference zone, guys." The pilot said, "It's going to be radio silence from here on out. Stay within visual, TT-2."

"Copy that." The other pilot said over the growing static, "ETA one minute."

The two planes slowed down, maneuvering carefully around the hovering rock formations of the mountains. In the darkness, they were dark and foreboding, their bottoms seamlessly black against the bright forest floor.

"As soon as we land, you guys are on your own." Mike's pilot said, "I'll drop you down without touching down, are you okay with that?"

"Just give me enough space to put my feet down." Mike said. He remembered being only barely trained on dropping out of a jump jet.

"Alright, we're here." The pilot said.

They had reached what seemed to Mike to be an incomplete rock dome, surrounding a clearing with one strange tree in the center. The jets pointed their engines upwards, their engines pointing towards the sky. Mike could hear the large clamps of the container next to him be released, and it plummeted down the few feet to the forest floor. Mike then felt his own mech fall onto the ground, landing softly on the roots that surrounded the tree. He got his mech to its feet, just in time to watch the two jets take off into the horizon.

"Looks like we're on our own." Mike said over his speakers.

"Set up a defensive perimeter." Gerg said, attaching cables from the pod into the heart of the tree, "This is going to take a second."

"Sure thing, stretch!" Tal said, hefting his machinegun towards one side of the circular clearing.

"Don't touch the trees." Mike said, "Who knows what aces this god's got hidden up its sleeves."

As if to answer the question, a howling like nothing any human had ever head roared through the jungle, sending smaller reptile-like birds up into the sky. Mike's satellite feed showed that several heat signatures were closing on their position.

"Never mind that now!" Tal said, "We've got company! Mutie, give 'em some hell fire!"

Mutie nodded, and sprayed his flamethrower into the trees in his area. A figure, obscured by the flames, ran straight through them, screaming a horrifying war cry. It fell to the forest floor, it's misshapen head smashing against the dirt until it stopped moving.

"What the hell is that?" Mike asked Gerg.

"Figure it out for yourselves, I'm busy!" He shouted from inside the sealed pod doors.

Tal looked over from his gun, "It's like… some kind of mutant. Looks like our little neighborhood god's been doing some experimentin'." He turned around when one of his sensors on his gun picked up movement, "Here's some more of 'em. Git ready!"

A small group of elongated figures ran through the forest into the clearing, strait into the line of Tal's gun. They took several bullets before falling to the ground, muttering loudly to themselves as they died. Mike looked over at them. They were all connected to a vine that quickly retreated into the forest.

Another group of vaguely humanoid forms ran in front of Mike, and he decapitated them with a swift slash of his two mechanical hands. They fell to the ground, another vine from the forest retracted into the darkness again.

"Maybe Gerg was right about the whole, 'don't go near the forest' thing." Mike said.

Their first efforts squashed, the other mutants out of view in the forest let out a momentous roar. A flood of malformed bodies poured out of the forest, screaming and running towards Gerg's pod, not paying any attention to the defenders who were cutting them down left and right.

Inside the relative safety of the metal laboratory, Gerg was sweating beneath his mask. He had figured that the link would be easy, and the coding hard to do, but it was the opposite. Every time he had tried linking to the tree through a metal queue, the strand attached to it would die off. Even stabbing the tree directly didn't help. Gerg hadn't any proof, but it seemed like the tree god was actively trying to stop him from connecting.

Finally, Gerg looked up from his computer, and noticed that the mutants were being controlled by a direct link to the tree's vines. He stuck his head out of the window just as Mike had stabbed a particularly large creature through the chest with his razor like hands.

"Mike, grab that thing's cord!" Gerg shouted.

"Um, sure…" Mike said as he took an iron grip to the retreating cord.

Although it flailed about in his hands, it did not retreat, or try to rip itself out. Mike handed it to Gerg. He placed it into the false queue, and one of his screens lit up.

"Alright, we're in business!" Gerg said, before feeling faint. He remembered that he had taken his mask off to wipe his sweating face. "Shit…" He mumbled before he collapsed to the ground.

"Crap, guys, Gerg's out!" Mike said, quickly opening his suit's airlock and jumping to the forest floor.

Mike put his own mask on as he fell, and rolled onto the ground. He scooped Gerg up, put his mask back on, and carried him into the shelter. Tal picked up his massive gun and climbed onto the metal enclosure itself. Mutie began spraying flames near the entrance as he stood in front of the door itself, kicking a flaming monster twice his size in the shin to stop it from entering.

Gerg was gasping for air, pressing the mask hard on his face. He pointed to the computer. "Connect, there's no time… *GASP* hurry, before… it… notices…" He passed out.

Mike checked to make sure he was still breathing, before checking his watch. Their reinforcements were still a good ten minutes away. Already, the tree around them was beginning to die, its glowing leaves fading fast.

"Guys, I'm connecting to the network." Mike said, "If anything happens to me, if it tries to take control," He gulped, "Shoot me first."

Tal said slowly, "Don't worry, stretch, we'll get you out of there if you're in trouble."

Mutie nodded in agreement as he pulled his combat knife out of a charred corpse. Mike took a deep breath, and put on the strange looking helmet that was sitting next to the computer. He blacked out.

Mike was surrounded in the familiar darkness of a loading screen. Around him, lines began to form, slowly at first, then very quickly as he connected. Looking around, it reminded Mike of being in a church, but everything was massively out of proportion. He felt like an ant, with the floor he was standing on extending outward for what seemed like miles, before ending in canyon like rock walls. Above him was a grey stone sky, with light emanating from huge windowless holes around it.

In the center of this massive chamber was a huge blue ball. It glowed with a neon turquoise that seemed to be as bright as the sun. Although it was in the middle of the air, it didn't bob up and down like it was filled with gas. It simply existed in the center of the room. The center of the room. Mike was near one of the massive walls.

Mike sighed, and started his journey towards it. He felt the ground speed beneath him, and in only a few short steps, he had nearly halved the distance between him and it. He noticed that the light was not uniformly coming from the entire sphere, but from thousands upon thousands of individual lights.

As he drew closer, he also saw that they were together in groups of two. He then saw why. They were the eyes of Na'vi, all holding hands, emanating the glow. Their faces were in contorted phases of pain. Some were in various states of decay, others were simply skeletons with skin on them.

Mike walked directly under the orb of light. A spiral staircase made of plants soared into it. While Mike climbed up it, it swayed from his weight. It felt as if no being had ever climbed it before.

Mike stopped. He was just below the sphere, but there was no way in. The captured Na'vi near the staircase were the most decayed of all, some only having bits of flesh holding them together. Mike had no idea that even a skull could have a look of pain on it.

Mike looked strait into the closest Na'vi, it's contorted face seemed familiar to him. He gasped when he realized that it was Pti'tun. The ghost turned towards him, and let out a slow, deep, painful wail. Other Na'vi around him let out other, similar noises from their mouths. The noise became deafening.

Mike looked around, and found that all the aliens were screaming, as one. Their looks of pain had doubled, some of them seemed about to explode from the experience. Suddenly, as quickly as it had began, the wails ceased. Mike, holding his head, looked around at the aliens. Their eyes were shut. Mike looked over, and found that his way into the ball had opened.

Not entirely sure whether he wanted to go in now, he cautiously climbed the last few steps, into the globe of bodies. Inside, the walls were lined with greenery. Up, near the ceiling, hung a massive tangled ball of light, with strands extending to the Na'vi imprisoned outside. Sitting in the center of a grassy knoll was a shrouded figure. Although the ball was lit from the inside by a glowing organic chandelier above, it was completely black, a physical shadow. Looking at Mike, however, it began to surround itself with clouds. Mike tried to peer behind the veil, but could not see past the vapor.

As the clouds parted, Mike saw a familiar figure. He had seen her picture from his high school text book. It was Dr. Grace Augustine. She sat on the grass, smiling malevolently at the human, and patted on a piece of grass next to her. Sensing something was wrong, Mike slowly kneeled down next to the woman.

In a voice that didn't fit her at all, she cocked her head, and said, "How did you get in here?"

"I don't think that's any of your business." Mike said, eyeing her suspiciously.

The woman flickered in and out of reality, a firm frown on it's almost inhuman face. "I don't think you belong here. Get out, now, before I have to," She paused, a smile creeped across her face, "Now, little human, I am impresssssed." She morphed into a Na'vi woman, "You got all the way here… and on your own… How very cunnnnning…"

Mike eyed her as she changed again, into a banshee. He said, "Eywa, I'm here to destroy you."

"I know." The monster said, "You have come to avenge your… father," The whole world fluttered for a second at the word, "You care nothing of your race, only the destruction of mine…"

"Then you know that my race has already won against yours." Mike said, looking the fiend in the eye.

Eywa laughed a shrill, almost painful laugh, "No, you foolish mortal, it is just another chapter in my tales. I am eternal. Though your people shall roam the surface of this world, they will be mine…"

Mike chuckled, "You think that any of us would submit to you?"

Eywa's form changed to that of a small girl. "yessssss, I do… You see, I offer more than just protection… I have immortality… You shall live forever under me…"

Mike looked at the captured Na'vi around him, "Is this what you would call an eternal reward?"

Eywa gestured towards them, "They are with me, for eternity. An eternity with their mother is the best reward they need. All are welcome. All I assssssk, is that you follow me, and you shall never truly die…"

Mike looked over at the prisoners around him. Their faces of pain, their contorted screams, their glowing eyes, this wasn't heaven. It was hell. "You're children are being hurt!" He shouted, "They don't want this, none of them do!"

"I don't care what you want to believe, but they need me, and I need them. Without me, they would fade into blackness. I hold them up, and in return, I gain a thousand eyes to look through. Are you willing to give them up?" She twirled around inside her dome of slaves, "Are you willing to damn them to a life of nonexistence?"

Mike began to circle the being, who had changed into a fierce hammerhead charger, exclaiming, "You mean keep their minds hostage, not willing to let them go in peace? You don't care about them! All you care about it keeping you all powerful."

Eywa reeled at the insult, "And what of your people? Are they to die forever without meaning? Are they to suffer an eternity of blackness, all because you can't appreciate the deal I am offering them?"

"No, Eywa, you offer us no deal, only a curse. Humanity is progressing faster than you ever could comprehend. We won't bend to your whims all because you want a new plaything to keep you entertained."

"I don't care what you think, boy. My powers are infinite! All I need is a host to show them through," She looked contemptuously at Mike, "A host who was the son of my greatest foe…"

Mike shook with anger. He could feel his thoughts being analyzed, his mind being watched for any signs of weakness. Rage burned in his heart, clouding his thoughts. "How dare you try to take control of me. I'm no Jake Sully, lady. It's going to take more than magic legs to convince me to join your side."

"Oh, no?" Eywa walked casually over to her wall of Na'vi and pulled one of the out of alignment. However, it wasn't a Na'vi, but a human, one that Mike instantly recognized.

"Father?" He asked

Quaritch looked up, his face was almost a skull. His eyes were glowing, and he looked around blindly at the sound. "Who said that?" He asked meekly.

"It's me, Mike, Dad!" Mike heard himself say. He didn't see Eywa's smile grow wider as she lowered her son to the ground. Mike ran over to his father. "I can't believe it…" He said.

Quaritch put a hand on his son. "Son, I live on through her… I can see through a thousand eyes, and what we're doing is wrong…"

Mike felt hot tears fall down his face. "Dad, they killed you…"

"I was blind, son. They were being paid better than I ever was. I know that now…" He looked up at Eywa, "I have a mother now, Mike. You can too, if only you would follow her…"

Eywa placed the colonel back in his place. She saw that Mike was still on his knees. "Don't you see? I keep families together. You can visit him any time you want. He's not dead, he never was. I have given him more than he could ever achieve in life. So can your people, if only they would listen…"

Mike looked up at her. She gasped silently when she saw that his face wasn't full of sadness, but rage. "You didn't let him die." He said, "You've kept him like this, blind, deaf, and dumb, and not given him the kind courtesy to let him find his own way to the other side! You don't offer salvation, Eywa, only slavery!" He got out his combat knife.

Eywa looked around quickly. She still couldn't find out where the intruder was connecting. "You can do no damage here!" She shouted, "This is my realm, my domain!"

"No, it's theirs," Mike pointed to the captured creatures, "They're the reason that you're still here!" He slashed at the cord that held his father in place. Quaritch fell to the floor below, but disappeared before he hit the ground.

Eywa reeled, as if the knife had just cut at her. She changed into a deadly viperwolf. It growled at Mike. Mike looked up at the tangled mass of queues that formed the light source for the chamber. He threw his knife towards it, and it burst into a glowing green puss. The Na'vi around him began to all fall down, into the darkness where the floor had been.

Around him, the massive cathedral began to collapse. Pieces of it simply disappeared, but some also fell to the floor, crashing and sending clouds of dust rising to the cavernous ceiling. Mike caught his knife just as the platform he was standing on fell.

Before he hit the ground, he stopped, floating midair before the darkness. A purple light began, slowly at first, then more rapidly, to glow. It soon filled the entire expanse with it's unholy light.

A deep voice rattled through Mike. "You… You did this… Your people shall burn this world because of you…"

Mike looked at the thing in it's glowing eye. "No. Your scared. This is the first time you've ever faced death in the face before, and you're scared! You don't deserve to live, you coward!"

He threw his knife into the quivering entity. It screamed, purple light flowing past the human as he shielded his eyes from the almost blinding light. Finally, he began to feel himself being thrown back by the blast.

Mike sat up. He could feel someone shaking him. Tal was beside him, a pistol in his hand. He looked worried. Mutie was next to him, sharing his expression.

"Hey, stretch, how ya holden' up?" He asked.

"How ya think, tex?" Mike asked.

The two of them sighed with relief. "Y'all had us goin' there fer a sec."

Mutie lifted up Gerg. He was still holding on to his mask for dear life, but he was awake, and he waved at Mike. Mike got up, and looked outside. The glow of the jungle was gone. The Tree of Souls was dark, and it stank of death. The vine that he was connected to had turned brown, along with the rest of the trees of the forest. Ashes and dead leaves were flying into the sky.

One of the mutants looked up. It was missing an eye, barely breathing. Mike could have sworn he saw his father's eyes in its soul. It smiled, and gave Mike a thumbs up, before falling back to the dirt.

The two jump jets returned. The pilots hailed them over their loudspeakers, "Hey, what did you guys do? We were coming over here, and all the Banshees just dropped dead suddenly. You guys look like shit, too."

Mike looked down. His green tank top was covered in black ashes. The roots near the tree were black, and whenever he took a step, he kicked up a small storm of it.

The pilot continued, "Come on, let's head home, mission accomplished."


	7. Chapter 7 Destiny Ascension

Chapter 8

Destiny Ascension

Mike, Gerg, Tal, and Mutie all walked down a path made by their comrades. In front of them, on a huge holographic screen, was the prime minister's smiling face. The Secretary of State, Commander Tark, was holding their medals of honor out for them at the end of the aisle.

Mike scratched the tag on the back of his suit. He wasn't used to such formal wear. Mutie seemed to be happy to be all dressed up. Tal had replaced his ten-gallon hat with a more formal beret, and didn't look too happy about it.

Gerg went up to the leader, and bent over to receive his medal. The golden medallion hung from his neck, the white and black colors of the new nation contrasted nicely against his bright blue suit. Tal and Mutie duly took their medals from the secretary after shaking hands with him.

Mike went up for his. The Secretary of State shook his hand, and said quietly, "You've done your race proud. I wish your father was here to see this."

"He is." Mike said, smiling. He looked up, at the metal ceiling. He could tell that wherever his father was now, he was watching.

Harvey Citad, over the screen, began his speech. "This is a great day in human history. Some people would have considered what we just did impossible. Some would think that we were in the wrong, and that we should die out like the vermin like we are… Some would call us the scum of the universe. I say, they are wrong!" He paused to let the cheers of the victorious Marines fill the room. He raised a hand to silence them. "We are the rightful inheritors of the galaxy! With Unobtainium, and any other resources we can find, we shall march across the stars, bringing humanity to every corner of existence! Already, miners have found large deposits of oil and coal hidden beneath large sheets of rock, and stone." The room grew quiet, "We will bring forth an industrial age on Pandora, the likes of which mankind has never seen before! We will build ships to spread our people across the gulf of space, not in centuries, but in decades!" People began murmuring to their neighbors, "Mankind will seize its destiny, and any xenos who get in our way, will be destroyed forever!"

Rather than hear a roaring applause, as was usually the case with his speeches, the former president only heard whispers and silence. Many of his men, from poorer areas, were staring at him, a look of betrayal on their faces. His commander, the Secretary of State, had especially harsh eyes. Harvey cut the signal before he could be booed off the stage.

Tark motioned to Mike and his team. "We need to talk. Meet me in the hanger at zero hours. Engineer, bring the thing we discussed about." He whispered as he waved to the impatient crowd, exiting the makeshift stage.

Mike stood near the airlock inside the hanger. With the lights from the forest gone, the base had to resort to using orange mercury lights during patrols. A shuttle next to him had landed, and power lifters had begun to unload the materials for Pandora's first oil well.

Tal slunk over to where Mike was. He was shivering. "It ain't me, right? It's gettn' colder round here…"

"I've felt it too." Mike looked out of the airlock's window, "I guess there are some side effects to killing a god."

"Aw, hell, man, can you believe what the Prez's doin'?"

"I can't believe it, is what I believe. We just got out of that shithole we call home, and now we're going to just turn this place into another one?"

"Not on my watch." A figure walked out of the shadows. It was Tark. He said, "And it's not because I'm with the blue monkeys."

"How're the cleanups going?" Tal asked.

"Some small pockets have had some self retained memories when the system crashed down on them. We've been observing them, but it looks like without direct intervention, they'll starve to death before long." Tark said.

"Hey, Mr. Vice-President, I'm here." Gerg said, "I brought what you asked me to."

"Excellent, we're all, wait, where's that silent fellow, Jack Ryan?" Tark asked.

Mutie nervously walked into the hanger, in his pajamas, with a flashlight in his hands. He was clutching a stuffed bear made out of a dead Na'vi's skin. He saluted the Commander before sitting next to the wall and playing with a lighter.

Tark looked at the fire starter, before turning to the others. "Well, we won't need him for the plan anyways." He turned to Mike, "All we really need is you and your engineer friend." Tal unhappily slumped down next to Mutie, pulling out a pistol, and servicing it on the floor, "That's not what I meant, maggot. Sorry, I'm used to talking to trainees. Listen, I've got a plan."

He looked around through the empty hanger. This close to the airlock, only the automated drones could see them, and they weren't looking for them. "This had been the prime minister, Henry Citad's, last step, in recolonizing Pandora. Large stores of natural gas, oil, and coal had always been here, but it was simply not worth shipping out to earth, unlike Unobtainium. But now that we're here to stay, we're going to turn this place into a modern planet, in the sense that we'll have to walk around with masks on again."

"Why?" Mike asked.

"'To utilize every resource available to us' is his excuse. I think he just wants this planet to be as black as the one we left. We're to follow his orders, though. Parliament is divided about the issue, and the majority can't get their cease and deist order around his veto. We need a leader who'll let the measure pass, and then we can just use the Unobtainium as a power source."

"You take over if Mr. Citad is removed from office, one way or another, right?" Mike asked.

"Exactly. If the Prime Minister should suffer an… accident… then we'll be able to take care of this problem before it starts."

"Well, I never thought I'd need to put assassin on my résumé, but I guess this is going to be an exception, huh?" Mike asked.

"Hopefully, your name won't live in infamy as the one who killed the first Prime Minister of Humanity." Gerg said, handing Mike a slip of paper. It was completely blank.

"What's this?" Mike asked, holding the paper up to the light. He could make out faint lines of circuitry inside it.

"Your weapon. It's a remote wireless hacking computer. It burrows its way through the _Destiny Ascension_'s wifi, and imitates its final plan." Gerg pointed to its white surface, "There's no need to activate it at all. Once it gets in range of the ship, it'll do all the work itself. It delists the Prime Minister off of all the escape pods, so he'll be lost, 'in all the commotion.'" Gerg smiled, "Pretty cool, huh?"

Mike was looking it over, "Can't you just mail him a letter of complaint on this?"

"No, I'm afraid that all paper has been restricted to those used for official documents." Tark said.

Gerg scratched the back of his head, "Well, I always wanted to see a real life tree, and so, I, heh, 'accidentally,' had an extra sheet added to the manifest. Modifying it like that, though, I don't think that's been done before. Was a bitch to sodder, but I did it."

"Well, anyway, are you willing to save our race from another destruction?" Tark asked.

Mike took the sheet of paper in his hand, "Sir, yes sir."

"One second," Gerg said, "_You're_ also not on the ship's evacuation list. I've set the paper to fire one of the two reinforcement drop pods that are on the ship. Get to drop pod R-1 before the ship hits the atmosphere. And make sure that the Prime Minister doesn't follow you. If he does, it'll be all for nothing."

A few days later, Mike received a digital invitation to join the Prime Minister for brunch aboard the Destiny Ascension. A wink from the Secretary of State as he left his room for his shuttle flight confirmed his suspicions. He slid the hacking paper into his combat vest.

Just before he got onto the ship, a man in a dark suit waved a wand around him. It beeped when he held it over his gun. The man frowned.

"I'm sorry, sir, but there are no firearms permitted aboard the _Destiny_. You'll have to leave that here."

Mike sighed. He quickly thought over the plan. There was no place where he needed to directly shoot the Prime Minister, so he placed his handgun into the plastic tray next to the guard.

"If there're any scratches on it when I get back, I'll be pissed." Mike said.

"I'll try my hardest to not touch it." The guard smiled.

Mike rode up to the ship next to a crate of fresh food from the hydroponics of Hell's Gate. He actually was sitting on his brunch as he looked around the cabin. Other than boxes, a few staff were being exchanged with the ones on the ground. A waiter patiently waited for the ride to be over with his head in a bucket.

As they approached the _Destiny Ascension_, Mike looked at the magnificent ship. It was surfing through the radiation of the gas giant Pandora orbited, and it was shrouded in a rainbow of colors as the deadly particles bounced off the ship's artificial magnetic field.

He heard the hiss of the airlock sealing around the port of the shuttle. The thick metal door opened, and several jump-suited workers floated out to move the cargo into the ship. Mike and the waiter both were led through the familiar metal halls of the ship.

Mike passed by the empty drop pod chambers that had been used during the initial assault. Glancing through the Plexiglas windows on the door, he saw that there was an open hole in the floor, still facing the blue sphere of Pandora.

The waiter lead him to the bridge. He typed a lengthy password into the wall mounted computer, scanned his hand, and read a statement for the voice recognition system. The door unlocked, and he slid it open for the pilot.

Sitting in the center of the crowded operations room, sat Harvey Citad, floating a couple of inches away from his chair. Various plates and silver wear were velcroed to the white tablecloth, which was, itself, stapled to the table, which had been bolted to the floor for this special occasion.

The Prime Minister took a sip from his heated coffee bag, before frowning, and ripping it open for a second to add some sugar. He looked up, and resealed the bag before the eager liquid could escape it. He motioned for Mike to take a seat. He obeyed, and strapped himself into the seat. The waiter presented the first entrée, a freeze dried ham sandwich, extra mayo.

Mike, disgusted, decided he was still full from breakfast. Harvey munched thoughtfully on his sandwich, and watched the dried crumbs swirl around him. The waiter produced a hand held vacuum cleaner, and sucked up the particles. He muttered to himself about his career choice.

Harvey folded his hands on the table. "I'm sorry that I couldn't be there for your award ceremony." He sighed, "Security is still too lax for me to go planetside."

"What do you mean?" Mike asked, stalling for time, "All the natives are either dead, or rolling around in their own filth."

Harvey raised a hand to silence him, "I know about the aliens, but it's our own I worry about. My plans about using the resources of this world to the fullest extent aren't, well, let's just say I'm not quite as popular as I would like to be. But don't worry, I've got a plan."

Mike leaned forward, "What is it?"

"The first day we regained the base from the traitors, we've hooked its reactor's control systems up to the _Destiny_. In case we lost it, and need to cut our losses. If that were to happen, we'd trigger a chain reaction in the Unobtainium core, vaporizing the entire region, and killing most life on the planet."

Mike gasped, "Is that even possible?"

The Prime Minister chuckled, "Of course. Didn't you pay attention in high school? Unobtainium is a superconductor at room temperature because it is almost near zero Kelvin all the time. Now, usually, this requires massive amounts of coolants to keep energy away from the substance. Unobtainium is different because it doesn't take in energy very readily. Our reactors set off a controlled heating of it, causing it to heat up dramatically.

"Although it's never been done outside of simulations, it's assumed that it will continue to heat up, until it ignites the atmosphere, causing massive casualties and high doses of radiation."

Mike shrugged, "Thanks for the science lesion. What's it got to do with anything?"

Harvey leaned closer, and said in almost a whisper, "I'm not an idiot. My plan doesn't win me any friends, not after we've all seen what's happened to our world. I've got a plan, and I need an agent after all this."

Mike looked at the president. He was not in an agreeing mood. "Why me?" He asked.

"Your will is iron. Even the alien god couldn't turn you to their side. I want you to lead my loyalist forces after this is through. And besides," He leaned back, "You're like a son to me."

Mike looked around the control room. A red flashing light on one of the dozen control panels caught his attention. Mike looked at his watch. It was about the time Gerg had told him to get to the drop pod.

"Is there a problem?" Mr. Citad asked.

Mike casually shrugged. "Nope. I just can't do what you want me to," he looked Harvey right in the eye, "You can't just get rid of your problems like this."

Harvey sighed, and slid his shaking hands onto his lap. "I can see that you disagree with my plan. Fine, I don't need you," He looked strait at Mike, "but I also can't have you spreading rebellion among my men. I can't believe that you, of all people, can't see what's good for your species when it's right in front of you."

Mike slammed his fist against the table. He felt himself get caught by the restraints of the chair. "No! I've been to the other side, the natives. I've met their god. And you know what? You're just like it. You're in complete control, and when somebody has a different opinion that you, you destroy them! I won't go down your path." He undid the restraints on his chair, and floated up.

The sheet of paper loosened beneath his weightless shirt. Mike saw one of the operators rush over to see what was causing the red light. Harvey, not seeing the emergency, rose from his seat also. He seemed to be very depressed.

"You can't be reasoned with," He said, "And I'm afraid that you're wrong. While that pitiful tree god and I may share the same sentiment towards our fellow kind, that's where the similarities end. I work for progress, for Humanity! Would you lie down and die in the mud? No! We are strong, and in time, we will seize our destiny! Guards, escort Mr. Quaritch to the airlock for an honorable discharge."

Two muscle bound men floated towards Mike. A massive quake shook through the ship. Mike pushed away from the table, towards the door. The Prime Minister looked over at the control panels. All the buttons had turned a crimson red, flashing and wailing.

"What's going on?" Harvey asked.

One of the operators, Henry Blarginhimer, looked up from the panel, "The controls have locked up." He said,

Harvey slapped his face with his palm. "So, unlock it!" he looked back at Mike. The Space Marine had taken down the two guards, and was floating towards the door. He opened it, and pulled himself out of the room, not even looking back at the leader. A white slip fell out of his jacket. It floated in the air before the Prime Minister grabbed it, and saw the circuitry inside it.

Henry was furiously typing on the keyboard. "It's not responding at all. Something's taken over all the systems." He gulped, "It's initiated the failsafe of this vessel." The ship began to lurch towards the planet, its rocket engines burning at maximum strength. Henry's look of fear turned to one of pure horror, "Abandon ship!" he screamed, throwing off his headset and scrambling for the exit.

The entire bridge seemed at once to be a flurry of panic and fear as people gushed out of the one security door. Nobody seemed to see the Prime Minister's look of anger and hatred.

He furiously went to his assigned escape pod, only to find it was full of people who weren't supposed to be there. As he floated towards the second nearest one, it quickly filled up with other people, all of them looking frightened and locking the door before the leader could enter. Undaunted, Harvey tried another, and another, until there were no pods left. Henry had snagged the last seat on the final pod, sneering at the leader. Desperate, Harvey made his way towards the reinforcement pods.

Mike strapped himself into the seat of the brand new THX. He punched in the codes and waited for the automated system to give him the green light. He breathed in deeply to calm himself, before noticing that he was good to go. Looking around at the interior of the ship, Mike silently said goodbye to the ship he had lived in for six years, before pushing the release switch.

The compressed air cylinders fired, sending the pod slowly out of the ship. The metal hunk picked up speed as it left the room, into outer space. A metal hand grabbed the side of the reentry cone of the capsule. A dark black THX threw Mike's pod onto the side of the ship, wedging it into the steel panels.

Mike flipped the switches to turn on his mech. It whirred to life and pushed itself out just as the mysterious mechanism slammed its bladed fist into the side of the craft. A blip on Mike's screen informed him that a radio channel had been opened, possibly by the metal antagonist.

"Hello, Quaritch," A menacingly familiar voice growled, "I can't let you do that. You son of a bitch."

"Harvey," Mike said, "This has to stop! I don't care how, but you need to be gone!"

"I can't believe it. How's it feel to betray your entire race?" Harvey asked. Although Mike couldn't see it, Harvey had taken off his jacket and ruffled up his hair in the fray, and looked about as crazed as he sounded.

"I'm not. You're path leads us to violence and destruction. Not all of us want that!"

"You don't get it, do you? I've seen what we're capable of. Our entire existence is only for destruction. There's no stopping it, it's our nature! We shall seize our destiny, with open arms! We will become the Plague of the Galaxy!"

"NO," Mike said, "We only destroy when we have to. We are good, despite the evidence against us. To be human is to hope, Mr. Prime Minister, and I hope for a better tomorrow!" Mike targeted the leader with his missiles. They launched out, moving inelegantly in the atmosphere less void of space.

The rockets flew past Harvey, exploding behind him. Harvey took aim with his missiles. He had launching tubes almost twice as big as Mike's. He let one fly, to test it. Mike had to leap out of its path as it expertly sought him out. It exploded next to him, onto a metal wall.

Air gushed out of the massive hole the explosion produced, sending holo-readers and cell phones into the void. Mike looked back at his own feeble rocket's destruction. They had barely dented the surface. Harvey maneuvered his machine into sight.

"Mine pack quite a punch, wouldn't you agree?" He asked, "I had a feeling that I would need to defend myself from assassins, but never like this. Congratulations, Quaritch, you've outdone yourself!" He fired another rocket at Mike.

He got up, and ran away from the rocket, towards the "top" of the ship. The _Destiny Ascension_ was starting to enter the planet's atmosphere. Mike saw the rocket catch on fire as the dense Pandoran air made it explode on the side of the ship. Harvey ran onto the ship's roof to catch him.

The _Ascension_'s angle leveled out, and soon, they were cruising the upper atmosphere. "Why aren't we just crashing?" Mike wondered out loud.

"The final sequence." Harvey said, looking through the jagged metal roof, searching for Mike, "It was meant to destroy as many enemies as possible, in case our efforts failed. Its trajectory is leveled to bring about the largest crater. I must admit, Quaritch, I'm surprised you don't know anything about it. You're not the sole conspirator, are you? It's that god damned engineer you have." He smiled, "I knew he couldn't be trusted. I'll deal with him and the rest of your unit after I'm done with you…" he chuckled, "It'll be fun, I think I'll throw a bon fire with their corpses."

"NO!" Mike said over his speakers, but to no avail in the airless vacuum of space. He leapt down from his hiding place, gunning the back of the leader's mech with his minigun's bullets. The low-caliber rounds bounced off the hardened metal plate. Some dented the ammunition cases, but none made it through.

Harvey spun around, firing on Mike as he dove for cover. "Not today, I'm afraid. Boy, this mech training is really paying for itself!" He chased after the fleeing assassin, before loosing him in the seemingly random metal pipes and chassis.

Harvey looked around at the ship. The sides were beginning to turn red from the heat of reentry. He silently made his way to the escape pod dangling on the side of the ship. As he reached it, he was kicked off by Mike. He thrashed at the Prime Minister with his metal claws, scratching the leader's armor.

Harvey pointed his minigun at Mike's armored chest. Mike kicked him onto the steel floor of the ship. He crushed the joint connecting the minigun to the mech with one swift motion of his large metal leg.

Harvey kicked him in the metal groin, sending him off of the ship. Mike fired his minigun to return to the platform, where a furious Harvey smashed one of his metal arms with one of his own.

Mike kicked the Prime Minister backwards. His black machine smashed against a metal block, sending chunks floating off in various directions. Harvey felt Mike slam into him with his entire body. The blow smashed the remaining rockets still in their launchers.

The prematurely fired rockets flew in various directions. One of them exploded by Mike as it flew away. Mike looked at the damage report. His minigun was out of order. Reason: it had been blown away.

Harvey looked around him. The Ascension had entered the alien planet's atmosphere, descending towards the ground at an alarming rate. The air rushed around the two combatants, as they simultaneously looked at the pod.

Harvey panted, "Looks like this is it, huh, Quaritch? It's you, or me."

The wounded black machine stood. Harvey put on the breathing mask attached to the side. No weapons, he had no choice. He cocked his pistol, and got ready to open to door.

Mike, also out of options, noticed that he didn't have his hand gun on him. Cursing his life, he wrenched a metal pole used for balance out of its socket, along with a piece of the wall on the ceiling.

Harvey undid the failsafes on his airlock, and opened one of the doors, slowly. The air inside his cabin rushed out, meeting the wild, unbreathable Pandoran air. He waited for Mike to do the same.

When Mike's doors slid open, the Prime Minister shot at the opening, to no avail. He wasted two more shots trying to get through the door. His hand was shaking with excitement. Finally, the doors opened all the way, revealing a metal wall. Before he could act, Harvey had fired three shots at it, doing nothing but ruining the paint job.

Harvey saw the metal wall leap forward, in the microgravity that was being experienced at the altitude they were at. He knew Mike was behind the metal, going towards him. Harvey fired another two shots, and he thought that he had blasted the metal out of Mike's hands.

He fired one last shot, but the bullet hit the metal pipe that Mike had taken from his mech's interior. He brought the rod down onto the Prime Minister's cranium. Harvey hit the floor of his mech, smashing his gas mask.

He rolled onto his stomach, gasping for air. His black mech tilted over, falling on its back. As if sensing its master's demise, the Unobtainium core on board began to go critical, as a delightful message informed Mike. Harvey grabbed his mask, coughing, and putting it onto his face. Looking through the broken glass of it's eye windows, the life giving air he needed rushed out of his mouth, pulling even more of his breath with it. He pushed it off, barely breathing through the thick toxins.

He weakly pushed himself onto the ledge of his fallen mech, and watched Mike climb into his armless suit. With the last of his breath, he struggled to say, "No… you need me… YOU NEED ME!" He fell back into his mech, gasping for breath. His vision became blurry.

"No…" He thought, "I can't die like this… I won't go quietly into the darkness…" As his vision faded, and a light began to glow ahead of him, Harvey could swear he saw Miles, his old war friend, waiting patiently for him. The room he was in was bigger than he originally thought. He closed his eyes. "I'm home…" His dying mind thought.

Mike wasn't out of the woods yet. With the Prime Minister dead, nothing was keeping him on the falling station. Mike went over to the drop pod, whose heat shield was still wedged into the side of the ship. He had his mech's feet clamp onto the floor of the pod, wrenching the metal bottom, and holding it in place. He grabbed the emergency parachute with his hands, pulling it off with a *snap*.

He quickly leapt off the _Destiny Ascension_, falling towards the brown jungle below. The poisonous air rushed past his exposed face as he plummeted downward. He pulled the manual release on the parachute, and felt it fly upwards, catching the air and unfurling.

Mike let it fall upwards, catching it on the ceiling of his suit. It stayed in place, and his mech glided slowly towards the ground. As he hung in the air, he watched as the ship crashed into the Pandoran Jungle, sending brown dust from the dead leaves skyward, and exploding fantastically as the Unobtainium reactor went critical.

Through the smashed speakers of his radio, Mike heard Tark's voice over a secured channel. "Son, are you okay? Can you hear me?" He honestly sounded worried.

Mike put his mouth up against the manual microphone, "What do you think, sir?"

"I've got an account of all the escape pod survivors down here. The Prime Minister wasn't one of them. Is he with you?" There was a hint of seriousness in his voice.

"No, sir." Mike, with a hint of happiness, said, "He was a wreck when I got to him, he couldn't be saved."

"Well, that's a damn shame," Tark said sarcastically, "I've got quite a few people down here that want to hold him responsible for the ship's destruction. I'll send someone to pick you up."

Mike called the new leader one last time, "What is your first act as the new Prime Minister?"

Tark beamed over the radio, "We're officially going green. And we will return to Earth, and bring it back to its former glory. The way will be tough, but I have hope."

Mike looked out across the blue sky. Somewhere up there, his father was looking down at him, and smiling.

8


End file.
